Supreme Court Review: Court Settles Settlement Class Issue

Vol. 19 Nat'l L.J. B12 (Aug. 11, 1997)

U of Texas Law, Legal Studies Research Paper

5 Pages Posted: 21 Jun 2013

Date Written: August 11, 1997

Abstract

Commentary and analysis of two class action decisions from the Supreme Court during the 1996-97 Term, Amchem Prods. Inc. v. Windsor and Adams v. Robertson. The Supreme Court in Amchem finally settled a number of issues relating to settlement classes, while in Adams the Court left unanswered the so-called Shutts problem, pertaining to the due process requirements for mandatory class actions involving non-resident plaintiffs. The Court’s decisions will have lasting consequences for class action settlements and will further fuel the policy debate about the most appropriate means to resolve mass tort litigation. Moreover, when combined with the recent federal trend repudiating nationwide class certification, pessimists will predict that the Amchem decision is a final nail in the federal class action coffin. Such a dire prediction, however, over dramatizes the likely consequences of the Amchem case. In reality, lawyers will continue to broker class action settlements, and judges are likely to approve them with the requirements of Amchem. In a decision by Justice Ginsburg, the Court in Amchem held that settlement classes are legitimate, and must satisfy all class certification requirements with the exception that Rule 23(b)(3) classes need not satisfy the manageability criterion. However, the Court repudiated the underlying Georgine settlement on the grounds of a lack of commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation. This article discusses the factual and procedural history of the underlying Georgine settlement class that gave rise to the Amchem decision. In Adams v. Robertson, the Supreme Court failed to decide the appeal, concluding that certiorari had improvidently been granted. In failing to decide the appeal, the Court repeated its 1994 disposition in Ticor Title Ins. Co. v. Brown, which raised the same Shutts issue but also remained unresolved as the Court dismissed the case for improvident grant of certiorari.

Keywords: Amchem v. Windsor, Adams v. Robertson, Ticor Title Ins. Co. v. Brown, Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, settlement classes Rule 23(b)(3), mandatory classes, due process, asbestos litigation, global settlements, adequacy of representation

Suggested Citation

Mullenix, Linda S., Supreme Court Review: Court Settles Settlement Class Issue (August 11, 1997). Vol. 19 Nat'l L.J. B12 (Aug. 11, 1997), U of Texas Law, Legal Studies Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2281922

Linda S. Mullenix (Contact Author)

University of Texas School of Law ( email )

727 East Dean Keeton Street
Austin, TX 78705
United States
512-232-1375 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
24
Abstract Views
287
PlumX Metrics