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The Disappearing Opt-Out Right In Punitive Damages Class Actions, Richard Frankel

Richard Frankel

The tension between protecting defendants from multiple punitive damages awards for a single act and ensuring that wronged plaintiffs can recover punitive damages is one of the most pressing problems in punitive damages law today. Numerous commentators have proposed non-opt-out class actions for punitive damages as the best solution to the “multiple punishment” problem because they subject defendants to a single collective punitive damages award that can be distributed equitably across all injured plaintiffs. This Article challenges that position. It argues that mandatory classes improperly deprive class plaintiffs of their right to opt out and pursue their own individual claims …