Dive Brief:
- The Supreme Court will consider Tyson Foods' appeal for the result of a class-action lawsuit filed against the company, which allegedly did not fairly compensate its workers for the time it took them to take on and off their protective clothing and equipment, a lawsuit that has continued since 2007.
- The lower courts allowed plaintiffs to use "statistical evidence to determine legal liability and monetary damages, based on the average experience of a plant worker," according to The Wall Street Journal, which Tyson felt wasn't consistent with how the Supreme Court had recently been handling class-action lawsuits.
- Tyson also argued the case made for each worker was too different due to the various types of tools and equipment the workers used, so using a statistical average was inaccurate and led to many workers becoming a part of the lawsuit who would never have been awarded damages in an individual trial.
Dive Insight:
Bigger than the result of the appeal itself is the precedent it could set for future class-action lawsuits. Using statistical evidence is common in class-action lawsuits, but recently the Supreme Court ruled against an alleged gender-discrimination class-action lawsuit taken against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. after rejecting the "trial-by-formula" used by the plaintiffs.
When the Supreme Court takes up this case next session, it could rule on the side of Tyson in the same light as Wal-Mart, and if it does, this could mean significant changes for the strategies of class-action lawsuit attorneys.