Supreme Court's unanimous decision in favor of Wal-Mart
restricts the ability of plaintiffs to seek certification of a
class for damages.
On June 20, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States issued
its highly-anticipated ruling in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v.
Duke. The Court unanimously held that the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals erred in affirming the certification of the class under
Rule(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. A 5-4 majority
further held that the plaintiffs failed to carry their burden of
establishing commonality under Rule 23(a)(2).
The majority held that Rule 23(a)(2) requires a party seeking
certification of a class to demonstrate more than the mere
existence of common questions; rather, the party seeking
certification must demonstrate that class-wide proceedings will
generate common answers to those questions. The Court ruled that
the plaintiffs failed to come forward with "significant
proof" that Wal-Mart operated under a general
