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Laundry And Cable Television: How The Seventh Circuit Preserved Consumer Protection Class Action Litigation From Washing Down The Tubes, Stephen D. Pauwels

Seventh Circuit Review

Class actions are an essential tool for plaintiffs seeking relief from relatively minor harms. In recent years, the Supreme Court has handed down a collection of rulings that seem to have created additional hurdles––or heightened those already in place––to obtaining class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 23. One such ruling, Comcast v. Behrend, seemed to have enhanced the predominance requirement and thus raised speculation from various commentators about the ability of plaintiffs to bring class actions where resolution of liability and damages questions are raised for the entire class.

The Seventh Circuit, in Butler v. Sears, …