More judicial activity which should have negative impact on the economy. The impact of judicial picks by the Dems is having a huge impact on our lives. Please note, Last year 14 of 16 Ninth Circuit cases were reversed by the High Court. Can you imagine what will happen if Obama's picks dominate the SC?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...433157580.html
The judicial activists on the Ninth Circuit struck again this week, upholding the certification of a massive class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart. The decision reaches the outer galaxy of employment discrimination lawsuits, letting plaintiffs lawyers sue employers based primarily on statistical imbalances in pay and promotions.
In a 6-5 decision, the court affirmed a 2004 lower court ruling that allowed a gender discrimination suit against the retailer to go forward as a class action. Wal-Mart is accused of paying female workers less that their male colleagues and giving fewer promotions. The appellate court did not address the discrimination claims but only whether female workers could sue collectively.
Wal-Mart sought, on due process grounds, to defend against each accusation and on an individual basis, arguing that the six women who filed the original suit weren't representative of the experiences of hundreds of thousands of female workers that plaintiffs wanted covered in the class.
To the delight of the plaintiffs bar, the majority ruled that the "factual evidence, expert opinions, statistical evidence, and anecdotal evidence provide sufficient support to raise the common question whether Wal-Marts's female employees nationwide were subject to a single set of corporate policies (not merely a number of independent discriminatory acts)." Anecdotal evidence?
Writing for the minority, Judge Sandra Ikuta summed up the myriad problems with this decision, noting that the ramifications of the court's activism go well beyond the Wal-Mart case. "The majority's ruling provides scant limits to the types of classes that can be certified," she wrote.
"Put simply, the door is now open to Title VII [discrimination] lawsuits targeting national and international companies, regardless of size and diversity, based on nothing more than general and conclusory allegations, a handful of anecdotes, and statistical disparities that bear little relation to the alleged discriminatory decisions."
The ultimate goal for plaintiffs lawyers is of course not to win these cases but to pressure companies to settle after the class has been certified. Wal-Mart says it will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Last year 14 of 16 Ninth Circuit cases were reversed by the High Court. This one deserves the same fate.