Sullivan et al. v. De Beers Investments et al. (Class action settlements)

AAI filed an amicus brief in the Third Circuit today in the rehearing of an appeal from the approval of a class action settlement.  The Third Circuit ordered rehearing with respect to a panel decision rejecting a class settlement because the panel apparently believed that defendants had agreed to pay too much.  According to the panel, the lower court should not have approved a settlement of a nationwide class action of indirect purchasers when some of the class members reside in states without Illinois Brick repealers.  AAI’s brief argues that the weakness of the claims of some members of the class was not a ground to refuse to certify the settlement class, and the court’s role should be to protect the absent class members, not the defendant.

The brief was written by AAI Advisory Board Members Josh Davis, Eric Cramer, and Dan Gustafson, with the help of Andrew Curley.