WASHINGTON – Plaintiffs lawyers in proposed class actions cannot avoid federal courts by promising to seek less than $5 million in damages, according to a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court.
"Our reason is a simple one," wrote Justice Stephen Breyer in Standard Fire Insurance v. Knowles, 11-1450, on March 19. "Stipulations must be binding." A plaintiff who files a proposed class action, he added, "cannot legally bind members of the proposed class before the class is certified."
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