This is a massive victory, not just for Wal-Mart, but our entire country. It turns back a lot of issues that cause these lawsuits. See more here:
From that article: “In a decision written by Justice Antonin G. Scalia, the court held that the plaintiffs’ “only evidence of a general discrimination policy was a sociologist’s analysis asserting that Wal-Mart’s corporate culture made it vulnerable to gender bias.”
Because the sociologist couldn’t say “whether 0.5 percent or 95 percent of the employment decisions at Wal-Mart might be determined by stereotyped thinking … we can safely disregard what he has to say,” Scalia wrote.
The court’s decision also rejected statistical and anecdotal evidence provided by the plaintiffs as too weak to demonstrate that Wal-Mart acted against the plaintiffs in a way that applies “generally to the class.”
The court’s ruling is “a win for employers,” according to Gerald L. Maatman Jr. and Laura J. Maechtlen, partners at Seyfarth, Shaw LLP, commenting on the ruling. They were not part of the litigation.
“In short, the Supreme Court’s opinion repositions the goal posts on the playing fields of how workplace class actions are structured, defended and litigated,” Maatman and Maechtlen wrote in The Workplace Class Action Blog.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys issued a statement saying, “the plaintiffs are disappointed by the sharply divided decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court today reversing class certification in Dukes v. Wal-Mart.
“The court’s ruling erects substantially higher barriers for working women and men to vindicate rights to be free from employment discrimination. The ruling does not, however, address whether Wal-Mart committed sex discrimination against its women employees.”
This is a massive win. Come on conservatives, we keep winning, let’s take Congress and the WH next.
>>The plaintiffs’ attorneys issued a statement saying, “the plaintiffs are disappointed by the sharply divided decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court today reversing class certification in Dukes v. Wal-Mart.<<
Great analysis, 1010RD — your summary is dead on and, yes, finally large business can breathe a small sigh of relief that some broad with her knickers in a twist can’t get her fellow hens together and threaten the company with a class action suit.
But you gotta wonder what the plaintiffs’ attorneys were smoking when they spun a UNANIMOUS ruling (even the “wise latina”) into “sharply divided.”
Do they think people are that stupid? (self-answer: yes)
Thanks again for putting it all together so neatly.
Listening to some of the liberal media last night - every one of them introduced the story saying Walmart was being sued for discriminating against women. The story was set up as a fallacy from the beginning. The women were claiming that Walmart’s corporate environment MIGHT ALLOW for discrimination to take place! They never claimed actual incidences of discrimination.