Smith, et al. v. Bayer Corporation

Case Updates

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a federal court decision refusing to certify a class action could not be invoked to bar an attempt to obtain certification of the same class in an action in state court because the issues were different.

NCLC urged the Supreme Court to affirm an Eighth Circuit decision that members of a putative national class action are not allowed to circumvent a federal court’s class certification denial by re-litigating the same certification issues in a state court. In this case, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in a West Virginia state court for alleged harm from a cholesterol drug. The plaintiffs' lawsuit was filed after a federal district court denied class certification for similar claims. In its brief, NCLC argued that unless federal court denials of class certification preclude efforts in state courts to certify the same class action, then plaintiffs would be able to re-litigate the same class certification issues over and over until they find a favorable court. NCLC warned that allowing the re-litigation of these claims would encourage serial litigation and force companies into accepting extortionate settlements.