The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit caught tons of flack from tort reformers six months ago for green-lighting class action claims over mold-ridden Whirlpool Corporation washing machines. Since the consumer plaintiffs didn’t all buy the same model washers and encountered varying mold levels, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board accused the appellate panel of ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, which raised the bar for establishing class commonality.
Whirlpool’s lawyers at Mayer Brown and Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell are waiting to learn whether the Supreme Court will hear their appeal, which has drawn support from industry groups represented by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. In the meantime, the plaintiffs just received a major boost: a ruling by the Seventh Circuit, penned by influential Judge Richard Posner, that wholeheartedly endorses the Sixth Circuit’s position in the name of efficiency.
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