Prof. Howard Erichson spoke with Law.com about the significance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court of California case for the future of class action suits.
Howard Erichson (Fordham Law) told me why the growing debate over Bristol-Myers and class actions matters so much:
“Lawyers on both sides of class actions are going to be anxious to see what the Seventh Circuit and D.C. Circuit do in these cases, but ultimately it’s not going to stop here. This is a question that is very likely to go to the Supreme Court. It is a hard question, where courts are going to end up going both ways, and it’s a really important issue. It’s not just a theoretical question for proceduralists. It is an on-the-ground important issue for people who handle class actions: When you’re bringing a nationwide class action, do you have to bring it in the state where the defendant is headquartered or incorporated, or can you bring it in the state where the plaintiff chooses to bring it, which is what they’ve always done?”
