Supreme Court Comcast Antitrust Opinion Will Have Major Impact on Class Actions

This past week, in the case of Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, Case No. 11-864, the Supreme Court rejected a proposed antitrust class action against Comcast Corporation (“Comcast”), in which more than two million current and former Comcast subscribers alleged the company had violated antitrust law through its attempts to reduce competition and overcharge customers. The court’s decision could impact the ways in which plaintiffs satisfy class action requirements.

This decision requires plaintiffs to show a method by which class-wide damages can be commonly calculated in a class action lawsuit. Under this ruling, plaintiffs’ experts must calculate class-wide damages for each theory of recovery in order to ensure a viable class action. The case is likely to impact class certification especially in cases where simplified modeling of damages is done, such as consumer protection, employment, and antitrust class actions. Furthermore, such a ruling is likely to make certifying a class action more difficult than in the past.

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