The Future of Class Actions (and How to Stop It)

The title of this post is taken, very unimaginatively, from Jonathan Zittrain's The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. 

Adam Zimmerman has another great post on PrawfsBlawg today -- called the Privatized Attorney General -- about the possibility that attorneys general might save the class action device through parens patrea suits.  Worth reading.

On the mass torts side of the spectrum, apparently WLF has filed an amicus brief seeking cert in the progeny of Engle - the case is Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. Campbell. The argument is that the use of issue preclusion in these tobacco cases, available because of a Florida Supreme Court ruling upholding an issue class action in the tobacco litigation there.  

If any reader has more information, is submitting additional amicus briefs or authored the cert petition, please the informaiton to me so that I can post about it.  The Wal-Mart v. Dukes opinion indicates to me that the Court (or at least Justice Scalia) is itching to beef up some defense-side due process rights, and this case is a good vehicle for that.

ADL