Arguing Class Actions: Trusting Juries and the Courts to Manage Damages Issues in Class Actions
Arguing Class Actions is a monthly column by Adam J. Levitt for the National Law Journal.
June 03, 2024 at 06:00 AM
6 minute read
Class ActionsJuries are more than capable of deciding damages for class members, not just individual litigants. Acknowledging that fact begs the question of why courts (and defense counsel), in class action cases, place such an emphasis on the need for expert testimony regarding damages at both the class certification and merits stages of those cases. Class action litigation nowadays all too often turns into a battle of the experts (and efforts to exclude them), especially related to damages, which invades the province of the jury, contributes to out-of-control litigation costs for all parties and results in the overuse of judicial resources. Indeed, the cost of preparing an expert report on damages can conservatively range between $75,000-$250,000, per expert, and is often exponentially more, especially, for example, in antitrust litigation.
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