On June 16, 2011, in a decision authored by Justice Elena Kagan, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Smith v. Bayer, a case on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.1 Smith, which was one of four class action cases before the Court’s last term, involved an examination of the relitigation exception to the Anti-Injunction Act.2 This article discusses the Supreme Court’s decision and recent developments.

Procedural History

To summarize the Court’s decision in Smith, it is necessary to provide procedural background for two different lawsuits. First, in August 2001, George McCollins filed a lawsuit against Bayer in West Virginia state court (Circuit Court of Cabell County), alleging various state-law claims arising from Bayer’s sale of a prescription drug called Baycol. In January 2002, Bayer removed McCollins’ lawsuit to the Southern District of West Virginia, and eventually the case was transferred to the District of Minnesota pursuant to an order of the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation, which consolidated all lawsuits involving Baycol that were pending in federal courts.