The Quintessential Class Action

You could read the 20 page class certification decision in the Priceline.com securities class action, but let’s face it, if you had the energy to do that, you wouldn’t need the Nugget now would you? So want to know how Judge Dominic J. Squatrito (D. Conn.) summed it all up?

Well, he said quite simply that “this is the quintessential securities fraud class action.” That’s right, you see that’s because “an enormous group of potential plaintiffs, with losses ranging from millions of dollars to tens of dollars, seek to recover damages arising from one entity's actions.” So, since “the focus of this litigation is upon the propriety defendants' conduct, and any issues pertaining to individual class members only pale in comparison to the importance of defendants' potential liability,” “this class action shall be certified under Rule 23(b)(3).”

So attack the class reps all you want, but no one can argue with this logic. No one except someone who's wrong, of course. You know -- the drinking the Flavor-Aid types.

You can read In re Priceline, issued April 4, 2006, at 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18603.

Nugget: “The court will not, at this stage of the litigation, determine which plaintiffs may or may not be able to prove loss causation; it is enough at this time that the class definition includes all persons who may have been harmed by the fraud alleged in the complaint -- whether each person within this class may recover is a question reserved for another day.”