Introduction
What do you get when you cross allegedly defective refrigerators, a dangerous chemical agent, and a hotly contested topic in class action practice? The answer is: a precedential opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that clarifies the boundaries of the ascertainability requirement and minimizes the role of “administrative feasibility” considerations in the class certification analysis.
In
Cherry v. Dometic Corp., the 11th Circuit held that “the existence of an administratively feasible method to identify absent class members” is not “a precondition for certification of a class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.”
1 The court, however, did not discount the importance of “administrative feasibility” in the certification analysis, ruling that district courts “may consider administrative feasibility as one factor among several under Rule 23(b)(3).”
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A Chilly Reception at the 11th Circuit: The Court Narrows the Scope of the Ascertainability Requirement for Class Certification Tuesday, February 9, 2021
What do you get when you cross allegedly defective refrigerators, a dangerous chemical agent, and a hotly contested topic in class action practice? The answer is: a precedential opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that clarifies the boundaries of the ascertainability requirement and minimizes the role of “administrative feasibility” considerations in the class certification analysis.
In
Cherry v. Dometic Corp., the 11th Circuit held that “the existence of an administratively feasible method to identify absent class members” is not “a precondition for certification of a class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23.”