Edward M. Waller, Jr., Julie Simone Sneed, and Ashley Bruce Trehan published an article in the April 2010 issue of The Florida Bar Journal, "Federal and Florida Courts Heighten the Requirements for Class Certification.” Mr. Waller is the class action team leader at Fowler White, and Ms. Sneed and Ms. Trehan are members of the class action team.
A court’s decision of whether to certify a class (i.e., whether to allow the plaintiff to represent a class of potentially hundreds or thousands of other plaintiffs) has weighty ramifications for the parties and their attorneys. Denying certification could effectively end the case, while granting certification can dramatically increase the stakes and may result in a class-wide settlement or major trial.
Although the Federal and Florida Rules of Civil Procedure set forth the prerequisites for a trial court’s analysis, recent federal and Florida case law has explored the quality and quantity of evidence needed to support class certification. Florida courts now generally require evidentiary hearings, and federal courts are increasingly requiring plaintiffs to prove each element of class certification by a “preponderance of the evidence.”
The article discusses these heightened requirements and also suggests that Florida courts adopt the “preponderance of the evidence” standard. Click here to read the full article. Please contact Ed Waller, Julie Sneed, or Ashley Trehan for more information.
Federal and Florida Courts Heighten the Requirements for Class Certification
