During the current term, the Supreme Court heard or will hear a number of cases bearing on a plaintiff’s ability to successfully bring and maintain federal class action lawsuits. In Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter, 133 S. Ct. 786 (2012), and American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 133 S. Ct. 594 (2012), the parties have raised issues regarding the availability of class procedures for parties to commercial and/or consumer contracts that provide for mandatory arbitration.1 Amgen v. Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, 132 S. Ct. 2742 (2012), and Comcast v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 24 (2012), raise issues regarding the extent to which a district court must consider the merits of class action plaintiffs’ claims at the class certification stage.
As the authors have previously commented, the decisions in these cases have the potential to continue a trend developed over the past few years that has made it more difficult for plaintiffs to commence or maintain class actions.2 On Feb. 27, 2013, the Supreme Court issued the first of these anticipated opinions in Amgen v. Connecticut Ret. Plan & Trust Funds, 133 S. Ct. 1184 (2013).
