Civil Procedure — class actions — predominance

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Civil Procedure — class actions — predominance

Where there is a single common issue of liability, class certification is appropriate.

“There is a single, central, common issue of liability: whether the Sears washing machine was defective. Two separate defects are alleged, but remember that this class action is really two class actions. In one the defect alleged involves mold, in the other the control unit. Each defect is central to liability. Complications arise from the design changes and from separate state warranty laws, but can be handled by the creation of subclasses. See, e.g., Johnson v. Meriter Health Services Employee Retirement Plan, supra, 702 F.3d at 365 (10 subclasses). These are matters for the district judge to consider in the first instance, and Sears will be able to present to her the evidence it’s obtained since the district judge ruled on certification almost two years ago.”

Judgment reinstated.

11-8029 & 12-8030 Butler v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Coleman, J., Posner, J.