Bethany Kristovich Quoted in Triad Business Journal Discussing the Supreme Court’s Upcoming Decision on Class Certification Rule
Munger, Tolles & Olson Partner Bethany Kristovich was quoted in a recent article titled, “LabCorp Case at Supreme Court Could Set Precedent for Class-Action Lawsuits,” published by the Triad Business Journal.
The article examines a Supreme Court case, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Davis, wherein the court must address a critical issue relating to class action lawsuits: Can a class be certified if certain members have not suffered any injury and therefore lack Article III standing? Bethany notes that federal appellate courts have approached this question differently.
“The question is, if someone standing alone could not have brought a lawsuit because they were not injured, could they nonetheless be part of a class bringing a lawsuit,” Bethany said. She explained that some circuit courts have determined that if the defined class members were not all injured, then the class action cannot proceed, requiring plaintiffs to file individual lawsuits instead. Other courts, however, determined that “some de minimis or slightly bigger number of uninjured class members being a part of the class did not preclude a class action from proceeding,” she added.
The lawsuit now before the Supreme Court was filed in California by two legally blind plaintiffs who claimed they were unjustly denied access to services due to the company’s self-check-in kiosks being inaccessible to them. Lower courts ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, leading Labcorp to file an appeal, arguing, among other things, that a class of visually impaired individuals should not have been certified since not all of them used the kiosks.