An Article by William Beatty
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The crossroads of warranty law and class action litigation pose substantial hurdles for claimants asserting a multi-state class action for breach of express or implied warranty. Not only do they have to satisfy the rigorous Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 23(a) requirements of numerosity, commonality, typicality and adequacy of representation, but also have to fit the cases into one of the three categories outlined in Rule 23(b). Plaintiffs must also deal with widely varying state rules regarding such issues as reliance, pre-suit notice and privity of contract which might destroy the required elements of commonality or typicality. These variables have resulted in several courts deeming multi-state warranty class actions to be “unmanageable,” rendering them unsuitable for class-wide resolution.