The U.S. Supreme Court today granted Wal-Mart’s petition for certiorari in the Dukes case. Wal-Mart’s petition raised two issues, but the Court’s order granting certiorari states that review will be limited to the first issue: “Whether claims for monetary relief can be certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2)—which by its terms is limited to injunctive or corresponding declaratory relief—and, if so, under what circumstances.” As we noted in a previous post, the Supreme Court’s answer to this question could affect whether punitive damages are subject to class certification.
The Supreme Court declined to answer a second question raised by the petition: “Whether the certification order conforms to the requirements of Title VII, the Due Process Clause, the Seventh Amendment, the Rules Enabling Act, and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.” The Court did, however, add a second question of its own: “Whether the class certification ordered under Rule 23(b)(2) was consistent with Rule 23(a).”
Links:
Supreme Court’s on-line docket
Wal-Mart’s cert. petition (via SCOTUSblog)
Related posts:
Wal-Mart v. Dukes cert. petition redistributed for Dec. 3 conference
Wal-Mart v. Dukes cert. petition up for consideration next week
Ninth Circuit’s Dukes v. Wal-Mart decision addresses class certification of punitive damages claims