On June 8, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review 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. The decision to hear Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo marked a victory for Washington Legal Foundation (WLF), which filed a brief urging review. In its brief, WLF argued that preventing a class-action defendant from raising otherwise available defenses to the claims of individual class members violates class-action rules and that it conflicts with the Court’s Wal-Mart v. Dukes decision.
