Wedding Bells In Virginia District Courts: Rule 23 Class Certification for Virginia Same Sex Couples

While much of the news this week has been focused on a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that declared Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, we read with great interest a separate and equally important decision from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in which the Court granted class certification to plaintiffs who also challenged Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban in Harris et. al. v. Rainey et. al., Case No. 5:13-CV-00077 (W.D. Va. Jan. 31, 2014). In that case, the plaintiffs obtained certification for two sub-classes of plaintiffs, including: (1) same-sex couples who have not married in the state of Virginia; and (2) same-sex couples lawfully married in other states. 

It is one of the very few cases that we have reviewed that addresses claims of gay or lesbians on a class-wide basis.

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