Chen, et al. v. Allstate Insurance Company

<p>In its <a href="http://www.chamberlitigation.com/sites/default/files/cases/files/2013/U.S.%20Chamber%20Amicus%20Brief%20--%20Chen,%20et%20al.%20v.%20Allstate%20(Ninth%20Circuit).pdf">brief</a>, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Consumer Data Industry Association urged the Ninth Circuit to hold that when a putative class representative&rsquo;s claims become moot before a class is certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, the entire case&mdash;class claims and all&mdash;must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.</p><p>This outcome follows from the Supreme Court&rsquo;s holding in <em>Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk</em>, 133 S. Ct. 1532 (2013), that in the context of a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the mooting of an individual plaintiff&rsquo;s claims before conditional certification under the FLSA moots the entire collective action. The Court&rsquo;s reasoning in <em>Genesis Healthcare</em> applies equally to putative class actions under Rule 23: A putative class representative has no personal interest in representing unnamed class members before a court decision on certification. And damages claims under Rule 23 are no more inherently transitory than damages claims brought under the FLSA. Accordingly, putative class claims&mdash;like uncertified FLSA collective action claims&mdash;cannot be saved by the relation back doctrine.</p><p><a href="http://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyers/tboutrous">Theodore J. Boutrous Jr.</a> and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gibsondunn.com/lawyers/rdunn">Robert E. Dunn</a> of <a href="http://www.gibsondunn.com/default.aspx">Gibson, Dunn &amp; Crutcher LLP</a> represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the National Chamber Litigation Center.</p>