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- Opportunity: In 2009, the state of Oklahoma adopted a new “Comprehensive Lawsuit Reform Act” that brought limits to the class membership requirements for litigation in the state. But the law was never tested until our client, a national manufacturer of heavy equipment parts, was sued in a wage-and-hour class action claim by a number of employees at one of its Oklahoma plants. Although our questioning of the plaintiffs reduced their original number by almost half, the local trial court approved class certification and we handled the appeal.
- Solution: Before the Oklahoma Court of Appeals, we argued that proving an employee was not properly compensated is a highly individualized inquiry not appropriate for class proceeding under the state’s new law. Our lawyers also demonstrated that erroneous class certification decisions impose large burdens on employers, courts and the economy.
- Result: The Court agreed that the plaintiffs failed to meet the law’s “predominance” requirement that common questions of law and fact predominated over any individualized issues and reversed the class certification – one of the very first such decisions under Oklahoma’s new law.
