Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

09-3001 & 09-3018 Spano v. The Boeing Co.

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//January 24, 2011//

09-3001 & 09-3018 Spano v. The Boeing Co.

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//January 24, 2011//

Listen to this article

Employment
ERISA; class certification

Where class certification would include class members with conflicting interests, certification must be vacated.

“Although the Supreme Court’s decision in LaRue established the fact that a participant in a defined-contribution plan may sue under ERISA section 502(a)(2) for damages to the plan, even if the only place those damages are reflected is in his or her own account, there is much that LaRue does not resolve. Importantly, LaRue was an individual case, and so it does not answer the question whether, or when, the kind of suit it was addressing may proceed as a class action. In our view, it would be inconsistent with LaRue to assume that class actions are impossible in these cases. On the other hand, there is no denying the fact that a greater number of issues will be suitable for class treatment in a defined-benefit case than will be in a defined-contribution case. There is greater potential for intra-class conflict in the defined-contribution context. For example, a fund that turns out to be an imprudent investment over a particular time for one participant may be a fine investment for another participant who invests in the same fund over a slightly different period. If both are included in the same class, a conflict will result and class treatment will become untenable.”

“Ortiz teaches that short-cuts in the class certification process are not permissible. General Telephone stresses the fact that the class representative must, at a meaningful level of detail, stand in the same position as the absentee members of the class. And once the court has completed its analysis under Rule 23(a) and (b), it must craft a definition of the class that assures that the action will not drift beyond the boundaries the court has drawn. The district court in these cases certified classes that were defined so broadly that the requirements of Rule 23(a) cannot be met.”

Vacated and Remanded.

09-3001 & 09-3018 Spano v. The Boeing Co.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Herndon, J., Wood, J.

Full Text

Polls

Should Wisconsin Supreme Court rules be amended so attorneys can't appeal license revocation after 5 years?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests