D.C. Circuit Invalidates Class in Special Education Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the certification of a class in a sprawling lawsuit against the District of Columbia over the provision of special education services, a setback for the plaintiffs more than a year after a judge found the city liable.
In the April 12 ruling, the appeals court vacated the liability finding, ordering U.S. District Chief Judge Royce Lamberth to reconsider class certification under the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 2011's Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes. In Wal-Mart, the high court said a class had to suffer common harm from a policy or practice that affected each member. The three-judge appellate panel found that the plaintiffs in the special education case failed to meet that "commonality" standard.
Writing for the panel, Judge Judith Rogers said the D.C. Circuit decision did not rule out the possibility of a class or set of subclasses, a solution that the plaintiffs previously suggested. But as the class currently stood, she said, Lamberth failed to identify a "single or uniform policy or practice that bridges all their