WASHINGTON – Lawyers for two of the world’s largest cable and biotechnology companies urged the U.S. Supreme Court in separate cases on Nov. 5 to impose higher hurdles on federal court certification of class actions.

The justices, offering little hint of how they may rule, heard back-to-back arguments in an antitrust class action, Comcast v. Behrend, 11-864 (See Transcript), and a securities class action, Amgen v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, 11-1085 (See Transcript).