Stephanie Douglas Named Litigator of the Week Runner-Up by The American Lawyer Litigation Daily

BSP Law member Stephanie Douglas has been recognized by The American Lawyer Litigation Daily as a Lawyer of the Week Runner-Up for a recent victory on behalf of General Motors. In this ongoing litigation involving alleged transmission defects, Stephanie worked alongside an appellate team from Quinn Emanuel (Rick Godfrey) and Kirkland & Ellis (Renee Smith), securing a significant win when the en banc Sixth Circuit vacated class certification and clarified Rule 23’s rigorous requirements.

In a closely watched 9-7 en banc decision, the Sixth Circuit held that the district court failed to sufficiently analyze Rule 23’s commonality and predominance requirements and improperly certified 26 state-wide classes bringing 59 claims.  The court explained that the common issues must go to elements of a certified claim, not abstract issues, and that the predominance inquiry required consideration of individualized issues, like breach of warranty, reliance, and causation, at the class certification stage, not later down the road.  The court also reversed the district court’s holding that GM had waived arbitration against the class members before class certification, emphasized that the plaintiffs’ two-defect approach compounded the problems, and questioned whether the plaintiffs’ overpayment model appropriately measured their damages.  The team included BSP Law Partner Susan McKeever; R. Allan Pixton, John Bash, and Dylan Bonfigli of Quinn Emanuel; and Cole Carter, Jason Wilcox, and Sam Ikard of Kirkland & Ellis.