Class Actions -- 2016



Dow Chemical Co. v. Industrial Polymers, Inc.   (U.S. Supreme Court)

Commonality of damages suffered by purchasers in antitrust class actions

The NAM filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a class action certification in an antitrust conspiracy certified solely based on presumptions of class-wide injury. This appeal came after a lower court denied the defendant the opportunity to rebut a presumption that all plaintiffs, purchasers of urethane foam, suffered the same damages as a result of the antitrust conspiracy even though each purchaser negotiated an individual price with the manufacturers. This case threatened to expose businesses to the risk of staggering class judgments and even for those who manage to defeat liability, substantially higher litigation costs. The NAM’s brief argued that 1) in class actions, parties have the right to raise any claim or defense specific to the individual class member; and 2) the lower court’s decision impeded due process and threatened to permit any conspiracy to be certified as a class action, thus potentially expanding the scope of class liability. This case settled on February 26, 2016.


Related Documents:
NAM brief  (April 15, 2015)