Class Actions

May Class Counsel Also Represent Lead Plaintiffs?

Bruce A. Green & Andrew Kent

Abstract For decades, courts and commentators have been aware that thepotential for conflicting interests among the class representatives, classcounsel, and absent class members is inherent in the class action device.Notwithstanding this realization and a substantial amount of scholarlyand judicial commentary on class conflicts, one kind of conflict has notreceived due attention: the conflict that inevitably […]

For Whom the Statute Tolls? Not Even the Sacred Heart: Florida Class Action Jurisdiction and the Need for Savings Statute to Toll the Limitations Period

Written by: Laura Liles

Abstract Class actions are common litigation tools that plaintiffs use to efficiently adjudicate their rights. However, with the passage of the Class Action Fairness Act and the Florida Capacity to Sue statute, class plaintiffs could very quickly find their claims traveling from state to federal court, or simply being dismissed for lack of jurisdiction if […]

Stephen Carr, Class Actions Removability and the Changing Business of the Supreme Court: Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens

Problems of appellate jurisdiction are, by their nature, mainly pragmatic problems. The U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals are forced to balance the need to provide timely, effective appellate review of district court decisions against the understandable desire for judicial economy.In addition to this inherent tension between fairness and economy, the law is constantly evolving, causing […]

Stephen Carr, Reconsidering Indirect-Purchaser Class Actions

Few issues have proven more vexing to private antitrust enforcement than those related to indirect-purchaser class actions. The current dual system of enforcement—federal and state—exacerbates the difficulty of litigating indirect-purchaser claims by layering procedural complexity on top of substantive complexity and by explicitly allowing (perhaps even incentivizing) duplicative recovery. Almost all commentators are in substantial […]

Sergio J. Campos, Class Actions and Justiciability

A lingering issue in class action law concerns the case or controversy requirement of Article III, otherwise known as the requirement of justiciability. For purposes of justiciability doctrines such as standing, mootness, and ripeness, is the class action brought by all class members, some class members, or just the class representative? This Article argues that […]

Jessica Erickson, The New Professional Plaintiffs in Shareholder Litigation

In 1995, Congress solved the problem of professional plaintiffs in shareholder litigation—or so it thought. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) was designed to end the influence of shareholder plaintiffs who had little or no connection to the underlying suit. Yet it may have failed to accomplish its goal. In the wake of the […]

David Marcus, Flawed but Noble: Desegregation Litigation and its Implications for the Modern Class Action

63 Fla. L. Rev. 657 (2011)| | | | INTRODUCTION :: From the perspective of the present day, Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure contains a difficult puzzle. After a court certifies a class pursuant to Rule 23(b)(3) in a money damages case, absent class members must receive notice and have a […]

Martin H. Redish, Peter Julian & Samantha Zyontz, Cy Pres Relief and the Pathologies of Modern Class Action: A Normative and Empirical Analysis

62 Fla. L. Rev. 617 (2010) | | | | CASE COMMENT ::The purpose of the modern class action, a procedural aggregation device authorized by Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, is to collectivize individual claims into a single proceeding, with the overwhelming majority of the plaintiffs assuming a purely passive role […]