On October 31, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a California decision that threatens to expand tort liability significantly by waiving the requirement in a class action that the plaintiff must present evidence that each class member is entitled to recover damages. The California decision virtually eliminated the requirement that a fraud claimant demonstrate that he relied on the defendant’s alleged misrepresentation, reasoning that requiring plaintiff-by-plaintiff proof of reliance would undermine the efficiency of class actions. WLF argued that eliminating the “reliance” requirement violates the due process rights of defendants by depriving them of a meaningful opportunity to contest all elements of liability. WLF noted that in June 2011 the Court (in Wal-Mart v. Dukes) took a careful look at abuses of the class action device in federal courts. WLF urged the Court to undertake a similar review of class actions in state courts.