PRACTITIONER BLOG

Read our analyses of developments in Impact Litigation and stay current on class action law

Impact Fund & AMICI Urge Sixth Circuit to Affirm Class Certification in Discriminatory Water Billing Case
Class Action Cert, Amicus Brief Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Action Cert, Amicus Brief Teddy Basham-Witherington

Impact Fund & AMICI Urge Sixth Circuit to Affirm Class Certification in Discriminatory Water Billing Case

In October 2024, the Impact Fund and fellow amici Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Centro Legal de la Raza, Legal Aid at Work, and Public Counsel, filed a brief urging the Sixth Circuit to uphold the federal district court’s certification of a class of Black Cleveland residents who brought a lawsuit alleging discriminatory water billing practices by the City.   

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Impact Fund joins NAACP LDF Amicus Brief defending standing in ADA discrimination case
Civil Rights, Class Action Standing Teddy Basham-Witherington Civil Rights, Class Action Standing Teddy Basham-Witherington

Impact Fund joins NAACP LDF Amicus Brief defending standing in ADA discrimination case

The brief calls out Acheson’s attempts to argue the merits of Ms. Laufer’s case as a distraction to the straightforward standing inquiry at hand. Standing is a threshold issue that requires plaintiff’s allegations be taken as true. This low bar is cleared by the mere allegation of a concrete injury. Arguments about the merit of Ms. Laufer’s case including whether she experienced the “right type of discrimination” that warrants ADA protection and the degree of emotional harm she suffered are inappropriate to the threshold matter of standing and subject to review in future motions. In summary, Ms. Laufer alleges that she personally experienced discrimination, a harm in itself sufficient for standing, so Ms. Laufer has standing.

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Impact Fund and NAACP Legal Defense Fund to SCOTUS: Don’t Rewrite Typicality
Class Action Typicality Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Action Typicality Teddy Basham-Witherington

Impact Fund and NAACP Legal Defense Fund to SCOTUS: Don’t Rewrite Typicality

The Impact Fund and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of ourselves and twenty-four civil rights organizations. We argue that Ramirez indisputably satisfied typicality, as every class member in the case presented the same claims, were subject to the same conduct, and sought the same relief as Ramirez did. “TransUnion seeks to turn Rule 23 typicality on its head, asking the high court to rewrite the rule to protect defendants rather than absent class members,” declared Impact Fund’s Executive Director Jocelyn Larkin. “Nothing in the language or purpose of the rule supports TransUnion’s approach.”

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SCOTUS Amicus Brief: Class Actions Vital To Equal Opportunity In Employment
Class Actions, Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Actions, Civil Rights, Employment Discrimination Teddy Basham-Witherington

SCOTUS Amicus Brief: Class Actions Vital To Equal Opportunity In Employment

A fair workplace, free from discrimination, is an American ideal. Many of our nations F500 companies reflect this value in their forward-facing materials and practices, but sadly, at the contractual level with workers, the promise of an even playing field gets tilted…

That’s why, on August 17, 2017, together with NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, we filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA.

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