Civil Procedure Outline - Class Actions

Rule 23

o Under Rule 23(a), there are four prerequisites for class action treatment.
Numerosity- Class must be sufficiently numerous that "joinder of all members is
impracticable."
Commonality of questions of law or fact
"Common nucleus of operative fact"
Core issues to justify it.
Typicality- in terms of claims and defensive of representative parties.
Adequacy of Representativeness of lawyers and class representative.
Named class members have to be representative of the class.

o If Rule 23(a) is met, case must satisfy one of the three types of class actions set forth in Rule 23(b):
Rule 23(b)(1)(a) for cases creating a risk of inconsistent adjudications that would create
"incompatible standards of conduct" for the party opposing the class.
Rule 23(b)(2) when D has acted or refused to act in a way generally applicable to the class, so
that "final injunctive relief" (or declaratory relief) is appropriate.
Rule 23(b)(3)
Most common for "damage" class actions.
Notice will require "opt-out" possibility
Court must assess more requirements:
The common questions of law or fact "predominate" over individual issues.
The class action approach is "superior" to other approaches.
Ex: Plane crash- all different injuries, very personalized, each person
can get their own lawyer.
The "manageability" of the class action.