The latest issue of Competition, the Journal of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the State Bar of California, recently arrived in the mail.
It has an article by yours truly, "Dukes and Common Proof in California Class Actions."
The article addresses the "trial by formula" catchphrase used in Dukes and explains that this part of the Supreme Court's analysis is limited to Title VII class actions, which have unique statutory requirements not present in UCL cases and other types of cases commonly litigated as class actions. In particular, the clever language does not mean that evidentiary extrapolations are impermissible Rule 23(b)(3) class actions, nor does it place any kind of due process limitation on the class action device, as some courts have recently and erroneously held. The article also discusses the Court of Appeal opinion in Duran, which misconstrued Dukes and is now under review by the California Supreme Court. Brinker is also touched on.
My thanks to the editor of Competition, John Cove, for including the article in the issue. Thanks are also due to the attorneys (you know who you are) who reviewed and provided helpful comments on drafts of the article.