Wal-Mart Ruling Raises Bar For Class Actions

By Leigh Kamping-Carder

Law360, New York (June 20, 2011, 11:51 AM ET) -- The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday to overturn certification of a class of 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees in the largest sex discrimination case in U.S. history raised the bar for bringing classwide claims and will force plaintiffs to narrow their class definitions, attorneys say.

In a highly anticipated opinion, a 5-4 majority ruled that the plaintiffs had not cleared the hurdle for class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(2), which requires parties to prove that the claims of...
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