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General Electric Capital Corp. v. Thiessen
(U.S. Supreme Court)
Certification of class actions
On 2/12/02, the NAM filed an amicus brief urging review of a 10th Circuit ruling that trial judges may not look at the merits of a case to determine whether to certify it as a class action. The certification decision is the crucial point in a class action case, since defendants bear tremendous pressure to settle cases after they have been certified, even if there is a good chance they will win on the merits. In our brief, the NAM argues that a judge must look at t he facts of the case to determine whether numerous plaintiffs are "similarly situated" under class action requirements. Also, we argue that the class action mechanism should not be used in employment discrimination cases that must be split into two trials (one to determine whether discrimination occurred and another to determine individual damages). The NAM brief was filed jointly with the Washington Legal Foundation. The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal on 6/17/02.
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