Ninth Circuit Issues Ruling on Post-Campbell-Ewald Rule 68 Offers

On April 12, 2016, in Chen v. Allstate Insurance Co., No. 13-16816, the Ninth Circuit confronted the issue of whether, in a class action, a defendant’s Rule 68 offer of judgment and deposit of the full settlement value of the named plaintiff’s claims into an escrow account “pending entry of a final District Court order or judgment directing the escrow agent to pay the tendered funds” to the named plaintiff moots the case. The Ninth Circuit held that such an offer would not moot a class action.