About the Course
Introduction
This CLE webinar will discuss establishing or challenging Rule 23's predominance requirement in a proposed national class action invoking laws of multiple states involving claims such as consumer protection, fraud, products liability, mass tort, or warranty claims.
Description
When the named plaintiffs invoke the laws of their own jurisdictions, but the case will require applying the laws of other states to the claims of other class members, certification of a class alleging consumer protection, mass tort, or warranty claims is especially challenging. These cases often require courts to confront whether variations in state law, proof of causation, reliance, injury, damages, or available defenses create individualized issues that defeat predominance.
In these cases, defendants usually contend that plaintiffs cannot demonstrate predominance under Rule 23, especially if reliance or inducement is an issue. Plaintiffs, in turn, often argue that common evidence, subclasses, grouping of materially similar state laws, or other trial-management tools can address state-law variations and individualized questions.
Both plaintiffs and defendants in these types of cases will want to carefully analyze the elements of each claim, burdens of proof, burden shifting, available defenses, remedies, and causation standards under the laws of each applicable jurisdiction. Plaintiffs will want to propose solutions for dealing with individual issues, while defendants will want to show why individual issues prevent certification. The parties also must address a threshold choice-of-law question: whether one state’s law can govern the entire class, or whether the laws of multiple states must be applied.
Listen as this panel of class action experts discusses the viability of class certification for multistate class actions, choice of law issues, and the meaning of Rule 23's predominance requirement in cases involving materially different state-law claims.
Presented By
Mr. Chorba is co-chair of the firm’s Class Actions Practice Group. He specializes in defending class actions and complex litigation. Mr. Chorba has substantial experience across a broad range of complex commercial matters at the trial and appellate level in California and throughout the country, and in multi-district litigation (MDLs). His litigation and counseling experience includes work for companies in every industry—including automotive, beauty / cosmetic, consumer products, education, entertainment, financial services, food and beverage, health care, insurance, life sciences, retail, social media, sports and gaming, technology, telecommunications, and utility / energy. Mr. Chorba has been recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and in The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation. Benchmark Litigation acknowledges Chris as a “Litigation Star,” and Law360 also named Chris a “Class Action MVP,” which profiles attorneys who have “distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.” The National Law Journal also identifies him as a “Trailblazer” for his work defending consumer class actions, and Lawdragon recognizes him as one of "500 Leading Litigators in America" and the "500 Leading Global Litigators."
Mr. Ruttinger develops and implements strategies for clients in class action, commercial and complex litigation across the country. He advises and advocates for clients at all phases of a case, from pre-litigation consulting on regulatory issues, to dispositive and class-certification motions, to appeals. Mr. Ruttinger regularly handles complicated, high-stakes issues for clients ranging from challenges to class certification to developing strategies for seeking summary judgment and excluding unreliable expert opinions. He is a frequent writer and speaker on the application of class action and product liability laws to emerging technologies.
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
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Date + Time
- event
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
- schedule
1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
I. Types of claims
II. Defining predominance
III. Choice-of-law principles affecting whether one state’s law, or multiple states’ laws, apply
IV. Material variations among state laws and their impact on predominance
V. Managing multistate variations through subclasses, groupings, or trial plans
VI. Recent cases
The panel will review these and other important issues:
- How have different courts defined what it means for class or common issues to "predominate" over individual issues?
- How do plaintiffs overcome the individualized nature of representations, reliance, causation, injury, or damages?
- What makes a law or statute in one state "materially" different than those in another?
- When can plaintiffs rely on one state’s law for a nationwide or multistate class?
- How can defendants use state-law variations to oppose certification?
- What role do subclasses and state-law groupings play in the predominance analysis?
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