Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Reshaping Class Certification CLE

Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Reshaping Class Certification

July 2011

Wal-Mart v. Dukes: Reshaping Class Certification - LIVE IN DENVER

Program Description:

When it issued its decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, the Supreme Court did much more than simply end one of the largest class action suits in American history. It also set a host of new ground rules for federal courts to evaluate class certification, both in employment discrimination cases and in other types of class actions. This program will discuss the significant potential impacts of this landmark decision on a host of issues, including 1) evaluation of merits issues at the class certification stage; 2) the potentially broadened scope of the commonality element of FRCP 23(a); 3) the standards for evaluating expert testimony at the class certification stage; 4) the threshold standard needed to establish “common proof” of an employment or other business practice; 5) the use of statistical evidence in support of class certification; and 6) the standards for adjudicating claims for monetary relief under FRCP 23(b)(2). The program will examine what the Court had to say about these and other topics, and it will also explore the questions that remain unanswered following the decision.

Presented by Paul G. Karlsgodt, Esq. and Todd J. McNamara, Esq.

Agenda:

8:00 am - 8:30 am Registration

8:30 am - 9:30 am Program (Continental Breakfast Provided)

Faculty:

Paul G. Karlsgodt, Esq.

Baker Hostetler

Paul Karlsgodt is a litigation partner whose practice emphasizes class action defense and other complex commercial litigation. Mr. Karlsgodt has represented insurance companies and other FORTUNE 500 companies in numerous nationwide and statewide consumer class action lawsuits and related litigation. He has represented clients in class action lawsuits involving sales and marketing practices, insurance coverage, claims adjustment practices, corporate securities, retailer/dealer disputes, employment and taxation.

Mr. Karlsgodt is editor and primary contributor to the legal blog, www.ClassActionBlawg.com, which covers a variety of class action-related issues, including decisions, trends, best practices, news and reform, both in the U.S. and throughout the world. He also founded and served as the first Chair of the Class Actions, Derivative Suits and Mass Torts Subsection of the Litigation Section of the Colorado Bar Association. He remains an active member of the Subsection.

Todd J. McNamara, Esq.

McNamara Roseman & Kazmierski LLP

Todd McNamara opened his own firm in 1995 and limits his practice exclusively to employment law matters. Mr. McNamara was lead private class counsel in Wilkerson, et al., v. Martin-Marietta, the largest age discrimination claim brought within the State of Colorado, which settled for a reported $7.6 million. Mr. McNamara secured the first race discrimination verdict in the United States against a real estate franchise for failure to award a sales agency to an African-American in Tyler v. ReMax. Most recently, Mr. McNamara, together with class cocounsel, settled a $3.85 million disability discrimination case against the United States Postal Services.

Todd has previously served as co-chair of the Colorado Bar Association Labor Law Committee, and is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association. He serves as an arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association Employment Panel. He is co-editor of Federal Employment Jury Instructions and has just recently completed a seventh supplement to that publication, which is used throughout the United States by both lawyers and judges. He is a co-chapter editor with the Practitioners Guide to Colorado Employment Law and has published a number of other articles on employment law issues in both Trial Talk and The Colorado Lawyer. Todd is a Fellow of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, one of approximately only 20 in Colorado.