Class action suits against manufacturers present the difficult choice of litigating and facing tremendous potential liability or settling with some, but not all, of the plaintiffs. The NAM is taking a more active role in helping to resolve class action problems. In this case, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a court may resolve a class action by providing non-monetary relief without letting plaintiffs "opt out," or withdraw from the case to file their own suits later. The Supreme Court took the case to decide whether the parties may settle such a class action and bind all the parties even though the plaintiffs do not receive part of what they sued for: money damages.However, on March 3, 1997, the Court dismissed the case as improvidently granted.
The NAM filed a brief supporting Alabama's no-opt-out rule, because allowing certain plaintiffs to opt out where they claim speculative money damages would subject manufacturers to open-ended liability and to cases that would be difficult and complicated to resolve.