Joinder: Class Actions

Question 1

Class Actions in federal court

Answer 1

Action in which a named party represents a class of commonly situated, absent parties

Question 2

Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) establishes alternative jurisdictional basis over class actions if:

Answer 2

-100+ plaintiffs
-Amount in excess of $5 million
-Any single plaintiff is from a different state than any single defendant (minimum diversity)

Question 3

CAFA generally excludes?

Answer 3

-cases against government entitites
-securities related cases
-cases concerning the internal affairs or governance of a corporation

Question 4

Class action certification

Answer 4

(CANT)

-C:ommonality
-A:dequacy
-N:umerosity
-T:ypicality

Question 5

Commonality in class action certification

Answer 5

must be common issues of fact or law that pertain to the class

Question 6

Adequacy in class action certification

Answer 6

named party and class counsel must fairly and adequately represent the class

Question 7

Numerosity in class action certification

Answer 7

Class must be so numerous that joinder would be impracticable (40+ usually)

Question 8

Typicality in class action certification

Answer 8

Claims of the named party must be typical of the class

Question 9

Additional requirements for class actions seeking monetary damages

Answer 9

-Predominance: common issues must predominate over the individual issues pertaining to class members

-Superiority: the class action method must be superior way of resolving the many claims

Question 10

Constitutional requirements for class actions

Answer 10

Judge must:

-order notice that is reasonably calculated to inform class members of the litigation and
-afford class members the right to opt out from the class action