Lester Brickman · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 700 (2011) This Essay explores the ethical issues that arise for plaintiffs’ lawyers involved in nonclass aggregate settlements. Rule 1.8(g) of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct requires that each client in an aggregate settlement must give their informed consent to the settlement amount... Read More

Judith Resnik · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 628 (2011) A half century ago, class actions were controversial. Aggregation was seen as permissible only under exceptional circumstances that could justify departures from the obligations of individual voice, participation, and control of the then-dominant procedural framework. The adoption in 2009 by the American Law... Read More

Robert G. Bone · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 577 (2011) Adequacy of representation is a central concept in the law of case aggregation. Not surprisingly, it plays an important role in the final report of the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation project. Ever since the seminal case... Read More

David Betson & Jay Tidmarsh · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 542 (2011) This Article examines the ALI’s proposal to permit opt-out rights when remedies and “divisible,” but not to permit them when remedies are “indivisible.” Starting from the ground up, the Article employs economic analysis to determine what the optimal size of... Read More

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 506 (2011) Despite a rise in the number of personal injury and product liability cases consolidated through multidistrict litigation, a decline in class certification motions, and several newsworthy nonclass settlements, such as the $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement and estimated $1.2 billion Zyprexa settlements, little... Read More

Edward F. Sherman · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 483 (2011) Plaintiff class counsel sometimes seek class certification for only some of the possible claims to which the class members are entitled. The reasons may include to avoid (or take advantage of) venue or jurisdictional limitations, to prevent removal to federal court of... Read More

Linda S. Mullenix · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 448 (2011) In a significant appeal decided March 31, 2010—and largely ignored by the media—a plurality of Supreme Court Justices in Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Co. rescued federal class actions from withering demise at the hands of the states. The... Read More

Alan B. Morrison · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 428 (2011) In 2010, the American Law Institute published its Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation, which include extensive discussion of and rules for class actions generally and for their settlement in particular. A few of these changes result from amendments to Rule... Read More

Patrick Woolley · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 410 (2011) The American Law Institute sets an ambitious goal in Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation: “to identify techniques that promote the efficiency and efficacy of aggregate lawsuits as tools for enforcing valid laws.” The ALI identifies many techniques that promote that goal.... Read More

Luke McCloud & David Rosenberg · February 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 374 (2011) In this Essay, we show why and how to apply the average of differing state laws to overcome the choice of law impediment currently blocking certification of multistate, federal diversity class actions. Our main contribution is in demonstrating that the... Read More