U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Removes An Important Wrench From The Defendants’ Toolbox For Defeating Employment Discrimination Class Actions

This morning the Supreme Court of the United States issued an important ruling that will affect employers’ ability to defend against a variety of lawsuits brought as class actions, including employment discrimination, Equal Pay Act, Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act cases.  In a 6-3 decision in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, No. 14-857 (U.S. Jan. 20, 2016), which our readers can review here, the Supreme Court ruled that when a party defending against a claim in a federal lawsuit makes an offer to a named plaintiff under Rule 68 to pay money to completely cover the alleged damages he is seeking and his accumulated costs to that point, and the plaintiff does not accept it, the lawsuit nonetheless may proceed. As explained below, this decision is a game-changer because it denies defendants the opportunity to use Rule 68 to moot the claims of named plaintiffs, and therefore end the class action, by removing the basis for subject-matter jurisdiction under the “cases and controversies” clause of Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

To read the full blog post, click here.