Class Actions in Mississippi: To Be or Not to (B)(3)

89 Pages Posted: 16 Mar 2005

Date Written: March 2005

Abstract

This paper argues that a mandatory class action rule - mandatory both in automatic certification and no opt-out - offers the most effective means of accomplishing the deterrence and compensation objectives of the civil liability system in Mississippi. Class action adjudication would proceed by decoupling the deterrence and compensation functions: at the deterrence stage, the court would determine total aggregate liability and assess damages equal to the total level of sanctionable harm; at the compensation stage, the court would distribute damages to class members based on relative severity of loss in accord with the general theory and practice of insurance. This decoupled structure overcomes the endemic conflict between deterrence and compensation objectives, enabling the civil liability system not only to motivate mass production defendants to invest optimally in precautions, but also to promote the goal of optimal insurance. The paper goes on to discuss several core questions concerning the design and management of mandatory class actions, including the timing and scope of aggregation, settlement-only versus litigation class certification, multi-state class actions, and the problems of "blackmail" and "sweetheart" settlements. We also examine instrumental and individualistic arguments opposing mandatory collectivization and favoring opt-out class actions, such as Rule 23(b)(3), Fed. R. Civ. P. Our overall conclusion is this: nothing short of complete, mandatory collectivization of all claims assures that the civil liability system can maximize individual welfare by optimally deterring unreasonable risk and optimally compensating harm from residual, reasonable risk.

JEL Classification: K13, K40, K41

Suggested Citation

Rosenberg, Michael and Scanlon, John, Class Actions in Mississippi: To Be or Not to (B)(3) (March 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=687881 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.687881

Michael Rosenberg (Contact Author)

Harvard Law School ( email )

1575 Massachusetts
Hauser 406
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617-496-4558 (Phone)
617-495-1110 (Fax)

John Scanlon

Harvard Law School ( email )

1575 Massachusetts
Hauser 406
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
108
Abstract Views
2,028
Rank
397,516
PlumX Metrics