This morning’s opinions
on Mar 27, 2013 at 10:09 am
This morning the Supreme Court issued its decision in Millbrook v. United States. The Court reversed the Third Circuit, holding that law enforcement proviso to the Federal Tort Claims Act applies to all the activities of law enforcement officers within the scope of their employment, not just to their investigative or law enforcement activities. Justice Thomas wrote the opinion for a unanimous court.
The Court also decided Comcast v. Behrend this morning, reversing the judgment of the Third Circuit. Justice Scalia’s opinion for the Court held that the class action in that case had been improperly certified under Rule 23(b)(3). The Third Circuit erred in refusing to decide whether the plaintiff class’s proposed damages model could show damages on a classwide basis. Under proper standards, the model was inadequate and the class should not have been certified. The vote was 5-4 with Justices Breyer and Ginsburg writing an unusual joint dissent, which Justices Sotomayor and Kagan joined.
