Key Takeaways
Procedural concerns could stymie efforts to resolve the longstanding split in authority on certification of class actions encompassing uninjured members.
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During argument before the U.S. Supreme Court on April 29, 2025, in Labcorp v Davis, No. 24-304 (covered by Re:Torts earlier this year), several justices expressed concerns about whether the case provides an appropriate vehicle to determine how courts should address uninjured class members under Article III standing and class certification rules. If the Court decides to dismiss the case as improvidently granted'as requested by plaintiffs'or remand without determining the issue, it would mark the second time the Court accepted the question for review without deciding it. See Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, 577 U.S. 442 (2016).
This time, the issue is before the Court on appeal by Labcorp, a diagnostics lab services provider whose self-service kiosks are inaccessible to blind people. Plaintiffs won certification, affirmed by the Ninth Circuit, of a Federal Rule 23(b)(3) damages class of legally blind people who visited a Labcorp facility and were unable to use the kiosks. Labcorp argues the class includes members who did not want to use the kiosks and...