Volume 39, Issue 2

Earlier versions of the following Articles and Comments were presented at a conference sponsored by The University of Arizona College of Law, the Law College Association and the Institute for…

Today the class action stands at a crossroads that has eventuated from numerous causes, including the skill of both plaintiffs' and defendants' attorneys in expanding the scope of the class…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with preventing unfair and deceptive acts and practices. Its two largest bureaus, of competition and consumer protection, enforce antitrust and consumer protection laws.…

The papers on which I am to comment demonstrate that the conveners of this conference fell short of the full truth when they called it "Class Actions at the Crossroads."…

It is time to recall that the judicial power of the United States has limits. The federal judiciary cannot by rule of court confer on itself the power to sanction…

Few things are as American as the class action. Housed in this single procedural device is the mechanism that accords equal footing to the common man in his dispute with…

One of the most damaging accusations made against class action litigation, particularly securities litigation, is the claim that it is "lawyer-driven litigation." In the parlance of, among others, the proponents…

Professor Fisch begins her very interesting paper by suggesting that Congress' goal in passing the lead plaintiff provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (the "Reform Act")' was "to…

I cannot resist the temptation to start this Article with a personal note. The first legal matter I worked on was as a law student writing a memorandum supporting over…

Professor Greenberg has spoken of the backlash from the courts and Congress imposing restrictions on the ability to successfully litigate certain types of class actions to enforce civil rights. Congress…

The defensive use of federal class actions in mass torts is currently having its fifteen minutes of fame. Defendants have historically used federal class actions to resolve their litigation problems…

The proposed amendments to Federal Rule 23 currently are working their way through the rulemaking process, with the public notice and comment period ending February 15, 1997. The proposed amendments…

The year 1995 will long be remembered as the year in which Congress first tackled the thorny issue of tort reform. Rarely has such an issue so inflamed passions and…

For most purposes one needs to know only three things about the history of class litigation. First, for a procedural device constantly accused of being a dangerous innovation, group litigation…

As Professor Yeazell has shown, present Federal Rule 23 has a surprisingly long lineage, but it remains a work in progress. One of its "roots," the aptly named "Bill of…