Consumer Class Actions and Complex Litigation
It seems that every term several Supreme Court decisions concern class actions — and for good reason. Whether returning ill-gotten gains to aggrieved businesses and consumers, curbing illegal business practices, or restoring market integrity and fairness, class actions, by their nature, affect all of us. But because of their power and influence, class actions are also subject to misuse and abuse. This course will explore the jurisdictional, choice-of-law, and remedies issues arising in consumer class-action and other multidistrict litigation. In doing so, we will study the central role of the trial judge as activist case manager and will examine litigation strategies of plaintiffs’ counsel, defense counsel, and in-house counsel. Our goal is to challenge students with real and modern class-action and complex-litigation questions and practical skills opportunties, so they can become familiar and comfortable with the numerous facets of multiparty and multidistrict complex and class-action litigation.