Today, the Supreme Court scheduled the oral argument in In re Tobacco II Cases, no. S147345. The argument will take place on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. in San Francisco. As I'm sure you all know, these are the issues on review:
(1) In order to bring a class action under Unfair Competition Law (Bus. & Prof. Code, section 17200 et seq.), as amended by Proposition 64 (Gen. Elec. (Nov. 2, 2004)), must every member of the proposed class have suffered "injury in fact," or is it sufficient that the class representative comply with that requirement? (2) In a class action based on a manufacturer's alleged misrepresentation of a product, must every member of the class have actually relied on the manufacturer's representations?
Some of the briefs are collected at these links. I'm planning to attend the argument and provide a report here on March 4th.
UPDATE: In other, almost as exciting news, the Supreme Court set oral argument in the Marriage Cases as well. That argument will take place on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. in San Francisco, and it will be broadcast live at The California Channel, which means a webcast will also be available. I don't yet know if the Tobacco argument will also be on The California Channel.
Another case of interest is Fairbanks v. S.C. (FARMERS NEW WORLD LIFE INSURANCE), which is set for argument on March 4, 2009. that case addresses whether insurance is a "good or service" under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
Posted by: Robert Bramson | Wednesday, February 04, 2009 at 12:11 PM