Does an unaccepted offer of judgment for full relief made prior
to a motion to certify moot the plaintiff's claim in an FLSA
collective action? That was the question we hoped the Supreme
Court would answer in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v.
Symczyk. Unfortunately, the majority in the 5-4 opinion
issued April 16 refused to decide that question, finding that the
issue was not properly before the Court because the plaintiff had
conceded her claim was moot in the district court and Third
Circuit, and had not contested the issue in her opposition to the
petition for certiorari. While we now know from the dissent
that Justices Kagan, Breyer, Sotomayor and Ginsburg would find that
an unaccepted offer of judgment has no impact on the validity of
the underlying claim, the majority opinion leaves unresolved a
split among the Circuits. The Seventh Circuit accepts the
argument that a claim must be dismissed as moot when an offer of
judgment for full relief is made prior to a motion
