The Supreme Court’s 2012-13 term is shaping up to be an important one for class action law. Last month, the Court heard argument on the same day in two potentially significant cases. Comcast Corp. v. Behrend concerns whether plaintiffs may obtain class certification without introducing admissible evidence (including expert testimony) that damages can be proven on a class-wide basis. And the question in Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds is whether in a securities fraud case materiality must be established at the class-certification stage to obtain the crucial presumption of reliance. My colleague Archis Parasharami and I recently authored an article for Inside Counsel magazine discussing the oral arguments in Comcast and Amchem. We hope that you will find the article of interest.
