Federal court class actions have been around for over 50 years. As they grew in importance in the 1960s and 1970s, it was a bit like the tale of Frankenstein. Had the class action rule created an improved tool allowing small claimants a fair day in court against large, deep-pocketed corporations? Or had the class action become something greater than intended something that turned the risks and costs of litigation so much against corporate defendants that the class action had merely substituted one form of unfairness for another?
Proponents of these diverse views agreed on one thing: Class certification was so important to the outcome of a case that immediate appeal was necessary. So in 1998, Federal Rule 23(f) was added to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to allow for interlocutory appeals.
