PRACTITIONER BLOG
Read our analyses of developments in Impact Litigation and stay current on class action law
Female athletes from James Campbell High School score class certification after Ninth Circuit Appeal
When several students and parents from the girl’s water polo team flagged concerns of gender discrimination, the DOE retaliated against the class. The administration threatened to cancel the water polo season, increased scrutiny of the team, and mysteriously lost required team paperwork. This retaliatory conduct and the stark inequality between male and female athletes at Campbell are out of bounds under Title IX. In an upset, the District Court denied class certification in 2019 finding that the class failed to meet numerosity standards and, for the class-wide retaliation claims, that plaintiffs failed to show typicality and commonality.
Epic Systems And The Erosion Of Federal Class Actions
Epic Systems expanded Concepcion, concluding that federal labor law does not block arbitration class waivers, rendering them permissible in the employment context, too. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted that this additional barrier will lead to the under-enforcement of employment law stemming from this restriction on collective power, as has already happened in the consumer context.