• 29
  • September
    2010

When California's Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that female Wal-Mart employees could proceed with their massive class action lawsuit, the mega-retailer immediately cried foul. The number of women involved teetered near 1.5 million. If allowed to proceed, the case threatens a major shift in the way class action lawsuits are approached and prosecuted.

For Wal-Mart, if the sheer number of claimants isn't intimidating, the variety among the sexual harassment complaints is. This, then, was their argument. 1.5 million claimants were too many individuals, too many disparate cases to address in one class action lawsuit.

Now, some of corporate America's other heavy hitters are backing up Wal-Mart.

Included among these companies are General Electric, Intel and Bank of America.

They've asked the court to set down a concrete law regarding the standards by which class action lawsuits may be pursued. If the court denies Wal-Mart's contention and agrees to hear the huge class action lawsuit, these companies worry that the sheer number of claimants involved in this case and future cases will force companies to settle.

This, they claim, would compromise the ability of said companies to defend themselves against lawsuits - even "frivolous" ones.

The class action currently includes both former and current Wal-Mart employees who allege that they were subjected to sexual harassment, extending back to 2001.

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