Seventh Circuit Holds That Voluntary Product Refund Programs Can Defeat Class Certification On Adequacy Grounds Under Rule 23(A)(4)

Previously, we advised of a federal district court decision that endorsed a creative option for defeating class certification—the defendant's implementation of a product refund and replacement program providing a comparable remedy to what the putative class might recover in court. James C. Martin & Colin E. Wrabley, Reed Smith Class Action Alert 10-255, Federal Court Holds That Voluntary Refund Programs Can Defeat Class Certification Under Rule 23(b)(3)'s Superiority Requirement (Nov. 8, 2010) (discussing In re Aqua Dots Prods. Liab. Litig., 270 F.R.D. 377 (N.D. Ill. 2010)). That decision highlighted a trend in class action jurisprudence concerning the scope of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3)'s requirement that class litigation be "superior to other available methods for fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy." The Seventh Circuit recently rejected the district court's conclusion that a refund or replacement program can preclude a finding that