Class Action Settlements: Rule 68 Offers of Judgment and Other Strategic Tools

Description

The substantial costs and negative publicity risks of class action litigation incent companies to settle the cases as quickly as possible. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Genesis Healthcare offers defendants a potentially powerful tool to get rid of class claims early.

Genesis held that an offer of full relief to a named plaintiff under Rule 68 of the FRCP mooted the plaintiff’s FLSA claim, thereby mooting the collective action itself. The decision did not resolve a circuit split among the federal courts of appeal on whether a Rule 68 offer moots certification of a class, however, leaving counsel to continue to rely on decisions in the various circuits to determine if Rule 68 judgments will provide full relief.

Class counsel are also facing heightened court scrutiny of class settlements. Courts are increasingly tossing out class settlement agreements that include conditional incentive awards, excessive attorneys' fees or cy pres distributions, finding that they do not provide sufficient benefits to the affected class.

Class counsel must understand the current legal landscape regarding settling class actions in order to devise effective litigation and settlement strategies for their cases.

Listen as our authoritative panel of class litigators discusses how to leverage Rule 68 offers of judgment to resolve class actions as early as possible. The panel will also explain best practices to structure class settlements to obtain court approval.