Supreme Court’s Comcast Decision Raises Bar for Class Actions

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The U.S. Supreme Court last week threw out an antitrust class action lawsuit accusing Comcast of illegally raising prices and monopolizing the Philadelphia market, a decision that once again raises the bar for plaintiffs seeking class certification.

In a split 5-4 decision, the justices rejected a lower court’s certification of two million current and former Comcast subscribers seeking to prove that Comcast, the nation’s largest cable television provider, unfairly eliminated competition and overcharged customers (Comcast v. Behrend).

The March 27 decision, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, said the Third Circuit had ignored key precedents like those set in Wal-Mart v. Dukes that require plaintiffs to prove the group has enough in common and have suffered measurable, common damages before obtaining certification.

In their dissent, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen G. Breyer had harsh criticism for the decision, which they say was for a case that shouldn’t have been heard by the Supreme Court in the first place. The dissenters accused the majority of rigging the outcome in favor of Comcast and pulling a bait-and-switch that changed the original issue the case was supposed to be heard on. Instead of deciding whether plaintiffs had introduced admissible evidence, the majority asked plaintiff lawyers to prove the cohesiveness of the class during arguments.

“Today the Court reaches out to decide a case hardly fit for our consideration,” said the dissenting justices, adding that the court’s ruling “is good for this day and case only.”

Despite the acknowledgement that the decision is specific to the Comcast v. Behrend antitrust case, the ruling raises the bar for all future class action lawsuits. It also reinforces that the court is willing to side with corporations seeking tighter rules for certification, which they argue forces them to settle in order to avoid a costly trial and courtroom loss.

Combined with the Supreme Court’s 2011 Wal-Mart v. Dukes decision, the Comcast ruling reinforces legal requirements set forth under Rule 23(b)(3) that requires plaintiffs to show how they intend to prove that an entire class of consumers or employees were hurt as a group, as well as how damages can be awarded, before a case will be allowed to proceed.

UPDATE: On Oct. 28, 2014, the plaintiff submitted a motion asking a Pennsylvania federal judge to approve Comcast’s proposed $50 million class action settlement with a Class of Philadelphia-area Comcast subscribers.

UPDATE 2: Instructions on how to file a claim for the Comcast class action settlement are now available! Click here or visit www.CableSettlement.com for details.

UPDATE 3: A judge gave final approval to the Philadelphia Comcast monopoly class action settlement on Sept. 22, 2015.

UPDATE 4: On Feb. 23, 2016, according to our readers, Class Members who submitted timely and valid claims for the Comcast settlement began receiving checks worth as much as $15.