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The lawsuit sought back pay that could have amounted to billions of dollars. However, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous portion of the decision, stated that the plaintiffs' lawyers had improperly sued under a part of the class action rules that was not primarily concerned with monetary claims. The Court unanimously rejected the plaintiffs' effort to proceed under a part of the class action rules concerned mainly with court declarations and orders, which by its terms is limited to injunctive relief, as opposed to money. The Court's decision prevented the action from proceeding as a class action. On the more significant portion of the decision involving governing standards concerning class certification, the Court divided 5-to-4 on whether the suit satisfied a requirement of the class action rules that "there are questions of law or fact common to the class." Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said the plaintiffs "wish to sue about literally millions of employment decisions at once. Without some glue holding the alleged reasons for all those decisions together, it will be impossible to say that examination of all the class members' claims for relief will produce a common answer to the crucial question why was I disfavored." Scalia found that Wal-Mart had granted local managers substantial discretion, and therefore, "On its face, of course, that is just the opposite of a uniform employment practice that would provide the commonality needed for a class action." Scalia added that statistics showing pay and promotion gaps were insufficient to show common issues among the plaintiffs, as discrimination is not the only possible explanation. "Some managers will claim that the availability of women, or qualified women, or interested women, in their stores' area does not mirror the national or regional statistics. And almost all of them will claim to have been applying some sex-neutral, performance-based criteria — whose nature and effects will differ from store to store." It is anticipated that the Court's decision in this case will have an impact on all other types of class action lawsuits. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to let me know. Sincerely, Scott A. Freedman
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