Law Commons^™

On Individual Participation Within Mass Litigation: The Case Of The Fairness Hearing, Nourit Zimerman

Akron Law Review

What can we learn from including class members’ voices in the process of approving settled class actions? How does the opportunity provided to class members to participate in a public hearing relate to the inherent tension between individualism and the goals of aggregate litigation? Employing a unique methodology for analyzing court transcripts and using original data, this paper provides a renewed and rich depiction of the fairness hearing—a public hearing mandated by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure—which is held before the court can approve a settlement in a class action. Situated both within socio-legal studies and mass litigation scholarship, …