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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

  • work Practice Area

    Class Action and Other Litigation

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Wednesday, February 12, 2020

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE course will discuss the changes to the federal class action rule that took effect on Dec. 1, 2018. Our panel will explain the changes and address the obvious and subtle impacts on class action practice and practitioners by the revisions to Rule 23. The panel will also discuss new strategies for approaching class actions from both the plaintiff and defense perspectives.

Faculty

Wystan M. Ackerman
Partner
Robinson & Cole LLP

Mr. Ackerman chairs the firm's Class Action Team and has a national class action defense practice. He has been involved in defending more than 60 class actions in numerous jurisdictions and in many of those cases prevailed on a dispositive motion. Mr. Ackerman has defended putative class action cases involving insurance and financial services, products liability, data breaches, healthcare, consumer contracts, and securities. Mr. Ackerman has chaired the Class Action Special Litigation Group of the Commercial Litigation Committee of the DRI, and is currently Vice Chair of the Class Action and Multidistrict Section of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel.

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Alexandra S. Bernay
Partner
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP

Ms. Bernay specializes in antitrust and unfair competition class action litigation. She has also worked on some of the firm’s largest securities fraud class actions, including the Enron litigation, which recovered an unprecedented $7.2 billion for investors. In In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litig. Ms. Bernay serves as co-lead counsel. That case, pending in the Eastern District of New York, is brought on behalf of millions of U.S. merchants against Visa and MasterCard and various card-issuing banks. The case challenges the way these companies set and collect tens of billions of dollars annually in merchant fees.

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Description

Significant amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure's Rule 23, which governs class actions, are in effect. These changes--while admittedly not breathtaking--were the first amendments to Rule 23 in 15 years and meaningfully impact class action strategy and practice.

Reduced to their essentials, the amendments expand the means of notice to class members; set a performance standard for the information that must be submitted to the district court before the district court can give notice to the class of a proposed settlement; establish core factors the district court must consider in evaluating a request to approve a proposed settlement; address consideration offered to class action settlement objectors to withdraw an objection; and clarify that no appeal may be taken from the approval by the district court of a class action settlement.

Listen as our authoritative panel discusses the straightforward import of these rules, analyzes the subtle and nonobvious significance of the changes, and provides practical guidance for capitalizing on the new rules in litigating class actions in federal court.

Outline

  1. Overview of primary changes to Rule 23
    1. Preliminary approval
    2. Notice requirements
    3. Settlement approval
    4. Class member objections
    5. Interlocutory appeals
  2. Miscellaneous changes and considerations
  3. Strategies and implications
    1. For class action plaintiffs
    2. For class action defendants

Benefits

The panel will review these and other critical issues:

  • What are the practical effects of the amendments?
  • How do the new rules subtly impact class action practice?
  • What are best practices for counsel to employ in light of the new rules?
  • What strategies and tactics can be deployed to benefit from the amendments?