Fair Credit Reporting Act Class Actions: Standing and Class Certification in the Wake of Pitre v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011), the U.S. Supreme Court described a certified class of one and a half million plaintiffs asserting claims that Wal-Mart’s female employees faced discretionary, but systemically discriminatory, decisions about pay and promotions as “one of the most expansive class actions ever.” Id. at 367. The colossal class in Dukes could not remain a class, however, because a common question capable of class-wide resolution did not exist, and the outsized class threatened Wal-Mart’s ability to litigate individualized defenses against so large a field.