The Supreme Court Accepts Cert In Dukes v. Wal-Mart - Final Word Is Coming On Key Class Certification Issues

At 10 a.m. EST today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to accept review of Wal-Mart’s petition for certiorari in Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. View Opinion. The 6 to 5 en banc decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (San Francisco) – reported at 603 F.3d 571 (9th Cir. 2010) (view ruling)–affirmed an earlier class certification order in the largest employment discrimination class action ever certified. The Ninth Circuit upheld an earlier panel decision certifying a class action gender discrimination lawsuit challenging Wal-Mart’s pay and promotions practices. The full Ninth Circuit ruled that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California did not abuse its discretion in finding that the large and diverse class – encompassing approximately 1.5 million female employees, both salaried and hourly with a range of positions, who are or were employed at one or more of company’s 3,400 stores across the country – was united by a complex of company-wide discriminatory practices against women where plaintiffs presented expert opinions, factual evidence, statistical evidence, and anecdotal evidence showing a corporate policy and common pattern of discrimination imposed on female employees nationwide.

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