Class Actions Brief Blog

There are 7 justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court, and 4 are required to constitute a quorum. But what if 5 of the 7 justices have a family history of public service that could prevent them from hearing an appeal?

In Lake v. State Health Plan for Teachers & State Employees, 852 S.E.2d 888 (N.C. 2021), a class of over 220,000 members (or their estates) of the North Carolina Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System spanning over two decades challenged a law requiring them to pay a premium to obtain health insurance coverage. The retirees prevailed at the trial court level ...

Last month, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in a case that would determine whether the Court’s 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California would extend to federal class actions.

In Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Supreme Court ruled that in mass tort actions, state courts do not have specific personal jurisdiction over claims by plaintiffs who were not injured in and do not live in the forum state. There, a national group of plaintiffs sued a New York and Delaware-based pharmaceutical company in California court, alleging the defendant’s drug ...