Preventing the Subversion of Devlin v. Scardelletti
Class Action Litigation Report, Vol. 6, pp. 453-458, 2005
7 Pages Posted: 22 Sep 2012
Date Written: June 25, 2005
Abstract
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Devlin v. Scardelletti that objecting class members could appeal a federal district court’s approval of a class settlement without first intervening in the litigation. Public interest lawyer Brian Wolfman says the ruling was a victory for both objectors and the integrity of class action procedure: Objectors, he argues, help keep fairness hearings fair.
But a number of courts are now ruling that Devlin only applies to non-opt-out class actions, rather than the much more numerous ones that give class members opt-out rights. In this article, Wolfman details the exact wording of the Supreme Court decision and asserts that the high court clearly did not limit the application of Devlin.
Keywords: Supreme Court, Devlin v. Scardelletti, class actions, settlements, appeals, opt-out rights
JEL Classification: K00, K30, K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation