USA Law and Practice Contributed by: John Desmond, Alexis Taitel, Alice Samberg, Mackenzie Robinson and Peter Dragovich, Dickinson Wright PLLC
6.5 Interim Injunctions A party can apply for interim injunctions which are specific court orders compelling or prohibiting actions until a final judgment. Interim injunctions are typically granted when they are deemed necessary to prevent imminent, irreparable harm and maintain the status Summary judgment motions are due within 30 days after the closure of all discovery. Under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is granted if the movant shows that there is no genu- ine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. If a court were to deny the motion for summary judgment, the court should state on the record the reasons for denying the motion. quo before the final award. 6.6 Summary Judgment 7. Mass Claims and Class Actions 7.1 Procedural Mechanisms Class actions are primarily governed by Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The complaint filed with the court must contain a proposed “class definition” which describes the members of the class that the named plaintiff seeks to represent in the lawsuit. Then, the court must certify the class and determine whether a lawsuit may proceed to trial as a class action. Pursuant to Rule 23, the class must be so large that joining individual lawsuits from all indi- viduals would not be practical, there must be a com- mon question of law or fact among all members, the claims of the lead representative must be typical of the claims of the entire class, and it must be clear that the representative parties will fairly protect the interests of the entire class. State courts may have their own procedural rules regarding class certification but most states’ rules are modelled after Rule 23. 7.2 Standing Requirements To have standing to bring a class action lawsuit, the named plaintiff must have suffered a real, immediate, and distinct injury, the injury must be traceable to the named defendant’s actions, and it must be likely that a favourable court decision will remedy the injury. If these standing requirements are satisfied, then the
class must be certified pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The class must be so numerous that joining all members individually is impracticable, there are questions of law or fact com- mon to the entire class, the claims or defences of the representative parties must be typical of the claims of the entire class, and the representative parties will fairly protect the interests of the entire class. 7.3 Relief The relief available in class action litigation will depend upon the type of class action suit the class members filed. At the federal level, there are three kinds of class action suits and each provides different forms of relief based on the nature of the claims and the conduct challenged. The first is outlined in Federal Rule of Civ- il Procedure 23 (b)(1), in which the court may award monetary relief or injunctive relief. Here, classes typi- cally seek declaratory or injunctive relief rather than individualised monetary damages. Litigants that file a 23 (b)(2) class action must predominantly seeks injunctive and/or corresponding declaratory relief. A court may additionally award monetary damages, but only if monetary damages are incidental to the requested injunctive or declaratory relief. If monetary relief predominates over or requires individualised determinations, then courts may only certify the class under Rule 23 (b)(3). Class actions under Rule 23 (b) (3) are the most common. Typically, monetary relief is awarded to a prevailing class. Each state additionally has its own class action laws, but the states’ frameworks largely mirror the federal framework described above. That said, there are vari- ations among the states that will ultimately determine the relief available to class action litigants in state court. 7.4 Class Actions, Mass Claims and Arbitration Class arbitration is permitted only if the parties to the arbitration explicitly agreed to resolve class disputes via arbitration. This explicit consent requires a written document – an arbitration agreement or other con- tract – that contains a clause directly and affirmatively permitting class arbitration of disputes arising under the contract. In Stolt - Nielsen S . A . v AnimalFeeds Int ’ l Corp ., 559 U.S. 662, 684 (2010), the United States
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