PRACTITIONER BLOG

Read our analyses of developments in Impact Litigation and stay current on class action law

Ninth Circuit Panel Decertifies Class of Janitorial & Maintenance Workers:  Impact Fund & Amici Urge Rehearing
Class Actions, Amicus Brief, Class Action Cert Ashley LaFranchi Class Actions, Amicus Brief, Class Action Cert Ashley LaFranchi

Ninth Circuit Panel Decertifies Class of Janitorial & Maintenance Workers: Impact Fund & Amici Urge Rehearing

A certified class of janitorial and maintenance workers survived two motions for decertification, successfully proved employer wrongdoing at summary judgment, and received significant damages in a jury bellwether trial before seeing their efforts undone by the Ninth Circuit. The recent panel opinion in Bowerman v. Field Asset Services, Inc., 39 F.4th 652, 661-63 (9th Cir. 2022), reversed certification after over seven years of litigation as a certified class. In doing so, the panel blatantly ignored the district judge’s repeated conclusion that the case was best managed as a class action.

Read More