EPL ALERT: High Court Sides With Wal-Mart in Massive Sex Discrimination Case
June 20, 2011 - In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that a lawsuit brought by women claiming sexual discrimination could not proceed as a class action against Wal-Mart. The claims sought to represent approximately 1.5 million women putting potentially billions of dollars at stake for the giant retailer. The ruling leaves the case to a handful of women who may pursue individual claims bringing the stakes way down and making it unlikely that Wal-Mart will settle. In another aspect of today's decision, a divided court made it more difficult to mount similar class actions against large employers based on a common element standard. Businesses will look to this landmark case to stem the tide of massive class actions.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Duke, No. 10-277.