Life After Amchem: The Class Struggle Continues, page 2

Life After Amchem (continued)

Page 2

Despite the advance buildup of the Amchem decision, in a very real sense, and as the decision itself implicitly acknowledges, the decision is limited to the case before it. The settlement featured a unique and unacceptable combination of future claimants with future claims,⁵ potentially inadequate funding,⁶ insufficient representation of theoretically divergent interests,⁷ potential intra-class conflicts,⁸ and a class perceived as receiving inferior benefits to those negotiated by the settling plaintiffs' counsel for their "inventory" of individual clients.⁹ Appellate judicial displeasure with these features not only made disapproval inevitable, but also limited the breadth and applicability of the Amchem decision. The Third Circuit’s central and most far-reaching holding, that a settlement class must equal a trial class in every respect, was rejected by the Supreme Court.¹⁰ This rejection, however, resulted not in a reversal, but in an affirmance of the Third Circuit's decision because the Third Circuit's disdain for the settlement saved it. The Court affirmed the Third Circuit precisely because it did view the challenged certification of the class in the context of the merits of the settlement that gave it birth. The Court wrote that "the Court of Appeals in fact did not ignore the settlement; instead, that court homed [sic] in on settlement terms in explaining why it found the absentees' interests inadequately represented. The Third Circuit's close inspection of the settlement in that regard was altogether proper."¹¹

Justice Breyer criticized the majority’s preference for the Third Circuit’s conclusions over the district court’s "more than 300 findings of fact reached after five weeks of comprehensive hearings."¹² Breyer stated,

I do not believe that we should in effect set aside the findings of the District Court. That court is far more familiar with the issues and litigants than is a court of appeals or are we, and therefore has "broad power and discretion . . . with respect to matters involving the certification" of class actions.¹³

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NOTES

⁵ See id. at 2252.

⁶ See id. at 2251.

⁷ See id. at 2250-51.

⁸ See id. at 2251.

⁹ See id. at 2241.

¹⁰ See id. at 2248.

¹¹ Id. (citation omitted).

¹² Id. at 2253 (Breyer & Stevens, JJ., concurring in part and dissenting in part).

¹³ Id. (Breyer & Stevens, JJ., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (citations omitted).