Earlier this week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in a $6 million class action lawsuit against Tyson Foods — an employment case about whether the company paid its workers for all the time they spent putting on and taking off safety equipment. On Thursday, the justices will decide whether to hear another class action appeal — an antitrust suit against Dow Chemical, about whether buyers of their products were negatively affected by the way the company announced price increases.
These cases have probably escaped your notice — after all, they’re not about gay marriage or Obamacare. But they could turn into landmark decisions for America’s civil law. Each represents an opportunity for the Supreme Court to show that it is really serious about preserving the integrity of the class action system.
