“Never before has such a low bar been set for certifying such a gargantuan class”
Judge Sandra Ikuta writing in her dissent against class certification of the Walmart lawsuit in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Walmart is getting sued by 6 women for sex discrimination; this despite the fact that most of the employees are women. The ambulance-chasing shysters fomenting this case succeeded in getting “class” status for their few plaintiffs from the notorious 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. One of the primary tests for certifying a lawsuit as a “class” is for the court to determine whether the named plaintiffs are sufficiently representative of the class. Additionally, the court must determine if actual discrimination occurred and that this discrimination was likely to be widespread and effect a large class; in this case, a half of million female employees.
This sad case began with a few hapless women who couldn’t qualify as managers, but wishing they were managers. These people are rolling the dice with their litigation lottery scam. These women ended up telling sad stories of how they didn’t get their promotions to manager due to discrimination (yes, it’s true, Walmart has a strict policy against promoting morons). This is not a tort, unless those people can show, with evidence, that they were passed over because they were a woman. In the Walmart case, the attorneys for the plaintiffs used a combination of sob stories, anecdotal evidence and statistics. The statistics showed nothing.
The Walmart case, filed in 2001, against the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer by six female workers who claimed the company paid women less than men and gave them fewer promotions. Their evidence? They said that 65 percent of Wal-Mart’s hourly employees were women, while just 33 percent of the company’s management team is female. So what? These statistics are not proof of wrongdoing. They’re the same sort of phony statistics that feminists and their media echo have used for years saying that women only make 70 cents of the dollar compared to men. That’s baloney.
Some studies say just the opposite. Shall we sue every company where women are not equally represented in management, because of a defacto quota system? These Walmart ambulance-chasing lawyers say, “yes”.
Betty Spence, president of the National Association of Female Executives, an advocacy group representing women executives doesn’t think that statistics tell the whole story. “Women may work fewer hours than men or may not be as aggressive in negotiating salaries”, said Spence. Economist Craig Newmark also cites studies that indicate using raw data is deceptive, unscientific and inconclusive. The Wall Street Journal’s reported that according to an analysis of Census Bureau statistics found that younger women make more than men.
The left hates Walmart’s success and that hatred has been a lightning rod driving their organizational efforts. The left has been fighting and coordinating their efforts with a nefarious cabal of tired lefties from the beginning. The City Journal reports that “…unions, activist groups like ACORN and the National Organization for Women, environmentalist groups, even plaintiffs’ attorneys work together in effective alliances. They are fighting the giant retailer not only store by store, but in statehouses, city halls, and courts.”
This Walmart case may be the new poster child case for lawsuit abuse. This case displaces infamous Stella Liebeck, the 79 year old, who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald’s in New Mexico for $2.86 million, later reduced to a still outrageous $640,000. She removed the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving.
Frivoulous lawsuit abuse costs consumers billions annually and replaces common sense.
Lawsuit abuse is rampant, one parent who recently sued a school district over an injury her child sustained at a school swing set, forced the school district to remove all swings from all schools in the district.
The US Chamber of Commerce reviewed all state laws to see which states had the best and worst laws fostering lawsuit abuse. California ranked 48 out of 50. So it’s not surprising that the Walmart case was certified as a class-action by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Fortunately, the US Supreme Court has decided to hear the Walmart case to determine if the recent “certification” as a class was appropriate. This is even before the actual torts alleged in the underlying case are heard. This is a hopeful sign, as the US Supreme Court, to no one’s surprise, has overturned more 9th Circuit Court of Appeals cases than any other circuit in the country. We can only hope.
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