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December 12, 2007 |
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WAL-MART STORES: Denied Review of Class Certification in “Dukes” A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the sexual discrimination case, “Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.” to remain a class action, but limited the potential number of plaintiffs. The majority ruled that women who left the company before the case became effective and could not benefit from changes to the company's pay and promotion rules should be excluded. The decision could exclude between 75,000 and 250,000 former employees out of the more than 1.6 million members, Joseph M. Sellers, plaintiffs' co-lead counsel and a partner at Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll told The Wall Street Journal. The potential impact varies because the effective date of the suit may change depending on what the court allows. Originally, plaintiffs sought to include all women who worked at the company between December 1998 and the present. The effective date may change to when the case was filed in June 2001 or to October 1999, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accepted the case, Mr. Sellers said. The court said it would not reconsider its own decision affirming class certification to the case, but would allow both sides to appeal to the full court. The class action was commenced in June 2001 and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It was brought on behalf of all past and present female employees in all of the Company's retail stores and warehouse clubs in the U.S. The complaint alleges that the Company has engaged in a pattern and practice of discriminating against women in promotions, pay, training, and job assignments. The complaint seeks, among other things, injunctive relief, front pay, back pay, punitive damages, and attorneys' fees. On June 21, 2004, the district court issued an order granting in part and denying in part the plaintiffs' motion for class certification. The class, which was certified by the district court for purposes of liability, injunctive and declaratory relief, punitive damages, and lost pay, subject to certain exceptions, includes all women employed at any Wal-Mart domestic retail store at any time since Dec. 26, 1998, who have been or may be subjected to the pay and management track promotions policies and practices challenged by the plaintiffs. The class as certified currently includes approximately 1.6 million present and former female associates. The Company believes that the district court's ruling is incorrect. On Aug. 31, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted the Company's petition for discretionary review of the ruling. On Feb. 6, 2007, a divided three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals issued a decision affirming the district court’s certification order. On Feb. 20, 2007, the Company filed a petition asking that a larger panel of the court reconsider the decision. On Dec. 11, the court allowed the case to remain a class action . Wal-Mart said it would again appeal the decision to the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. -- http://www.walmart.com/ -- incorporated in October 1969, operates retail stores in various formats around the world. The Company operates through three segments: Wal-Mart Stores segment, which includes Supercenters, Discount Stores and Neighborhood Markets, Sam’s Club segment and International segment. The Wal-Mart Stores segment segment consists of three different traditional retail formats, all of which operate in the United States, and Wal-Mart’s online retail format, walmart.com. The Sam’s Club segment consists of membership warehouse clubs, which operate in the United States, and the segment’s online retail format, samsclub.com. Its International segment consisted of retail operations in 12 countries and Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's lead counsel is: Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., Esq. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 333 South Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90071-3197 Phone: 213-229-7804 E-mail: tboutrous@gibsondunn.com Web site: http://www.gdclaw.com Plaintiffs' co-lead counsel is: Joseph M. Sellers, Esq. Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C. 1100 New York Avenue, N.W. Suite 500 West Tower Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 408-4600 Fax: (202) 408-4699 |
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