Over the last several terms, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued opinions touching on a wide array of issues in class action law, including removal, certification, arbitration, and settlement. This year will be no different. In the upcoming term, the Supreme Court will decide three cases that could each substantively impact the class action landscape. Interestingly, all three cases touch on standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

First, in Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, the Supreme Court will address whether a proposed class can rely on statistical sampling to establish liability and damages on a class-wide basis where some members of the class have not been harmed.¹Tyson Foods offers the court the opportunity to clarify or even extend its recent defendant-friendly, class certification opinions in Wal-Mart v. Dukes² and Comcast v. Behrend.³

In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, the court will decide whether defendants can effectively moot class actions by making offers of judgment to putative class representatives prior to class certification.⁴ The implications of the court potentially blessing this defense tactic of “picking off” plaintiffs early in the litigation are enormous.