§ 9-11-23.Class actions

Before a class action can go forward, four prerequisites have to be met: the class has to be so numerous that joining every member individually is impracticable, common questions of law or fact have to run through the class, the representative parties’ claims or defenses have to be typical of the class, and those representatives have to be able to protect the class’s interests without a conflict. Beyond those four, one of three additional grounds also has to apply — a risk of inconsistent adjudications that would set incompatible standards for the opposing party, or adjudications that would practically dispose of absent members’ interests; the appropriateness of class-wide injunctive or declaratory relief because the opposing party acted on grounds generally applicable to the class; or a finding that common questions predominate over individual ones and a class action is the superior way to resolve the dispute, weighed against four listed factors.

Once a suit is brought as a class action, the court has to decide as soon as practicable whether it will proceed that way, and that decision can be conditional and revisited before the merits are decided. Classes maintained on the predominance-and-superiority ground get the best notice practicable under the circumstances, including individual notice to every member who can be identified with reasonable effort, explaining the right to opt out by a set date, the binding effect of the judgment either way, and the right to appear through counsel. Judgments describe who counts as a class member, and the court can certify a class on particular issues only, or split a class into subclasses.

The court also has ongoing case-management authority — limiting repetitive evidence, ordering notice at various points in the litigation, imposing conditions on representative parties or intervenors, and requiring pleadings to be amended once representation issues are sorted out. A class action cannot be dismissed or settled without court approval, and notice of any proposed dismissal or settlement has to reach the class.

Subsection (f) adds a scheduling framework built around the certification decision itself: the court must hold a conference to set a discovery schedule aimed at the certification question and set a certification hearing, which, absent good cause, has to fall between 90 and 180 days after the scheduling order issues. Discovery aimed only at the merits is stayed until certification is decided, again absent good cause, and the court has to issue a written order addressing each certification factor. A certification ruling — granting or denying class status — is appealable as a final order, the appellate courts must expedite it, the appeal has to be filed within 30 days of the ruling, and the trial court proceedings are stayed while that appeal is pending.