U.S. Supreme Court Rules Unaccepted Offer of Judgment Does Not Moot Class Claims

The United States Supreme Court further removed a valuable tool from class action defendants' arsenals Wednesday, ruling 6-3 that a class action cannot be mooted by an offer of judgment conferring full relief to an individual plaintiff. The majority opinion in Campbell-Ewald Company v. Gomez, penned by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rejected the defendant's contention that a settlement offer and the filing of a Rule 68 offer of judgment of more than three times the statutory amount for Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations mooted the plaintiff's claims. This decision closes the door on a strategy permitting putative class action defendants to moot the action by making an offer of judgment providing complete relief to the would-be class representative prior to class certification.