You may remember our May 13th post here about the Ninth Circuit ruling that a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart, involving over 1 million plaintiffs, could proceed to trial. As predicted, Wal-Mart has appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. As a brief refresher, the class action lawsuit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart, claims that Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club systematically discriminated against their female employees by paying them less than male employees, and offering females fewer and less frequent promotional opportunities. At issue is not whether the discrimination occurred, but whether over a million people will be allowed to make this collective claim through a class-action lawsuit, rather than individually or in smaller groups.
Wal-Mart’s main argument is based on the grounds that the proposed class of plaintiffs is far too large and individualized to qualify. In its petition to the Supreme Court, Wal-Mart argued, “the class is larger than the active-duty personnel in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard combined – making it the largest employment class action in history by several orders of magnitude.” It also argued that the Ninth Circuit contradicted earlier Supreme Court and appeals courts’ decisions, and that it improperly frees the plaintiffs of the burden to prove each individual plaintiff had been directly injured by Wal-Mart’s practices.
Some legal experts suggest that if the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs and lets the lawsuit proceed as is, it could cost Wal-Mart over $1 billion in damages. Furthermore, the implications for future class action certification procedures will be very far reaching. It is unknown whether the Supreme Court will decide to hear the case, but we will keep you updated. Check back in late Fall for more information.
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