Yesterday, the Court of Appeal published its opinion in Pfizer v. Superior Court (Galfano), ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Feb. 25, 2010; pub. ord. Mar. 2, 2010), which originally was handed down as an unpublished opinion last week. The opinion grants a writ of mandate reversing the trial court's order certifying a class, notwithstanding Tobacco II.
The docket does not list any letters requesting publication. It appears the panel simply reconsidered whether the opinion met the standards for publication and decided it did.
Seems like the appeals court did a factual inquiry that is supposed to be left to the trial court's discretion.
The message of this, and other recent class decisions, seems clear: expect the unexpected. A good time to limit class action intake to wage and hour cases.
Posted by: rb | Wednesday, March 03, 2010 at 07:54 AM