WLF Asks High Court to Reaffirm that Rule 23 May Not Deprive Defendants of the Right to Raise All Defenses

On April 20, 2015, Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) filed a brief in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Buoaphakeo, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review (and ultimately overturn) an appeals court decision that authorized plaintiffs’ attorneys to conduct a class-wide “trial by formula”—that is, a class-action trial at which the defendant was not permitted to litigate its statutory defenses to individual claims. In its brief, WLF argues that preventing a class-action defendant from raising otherwise available defenses to the claims of individual class members violates class-action rules and conflicts with the Court’s 2011 Wal-Mart decision.