Q2 2026 Class Action Update: Certification, CAFA, and Arbitration Trends
Class action defendants and plaintiffs must reassess Rule 23 strategy after the Sixth Circuit en banc reversed a 90,000-member insurance class and the Fourth Circuit vacated certification for overbroad class definitions.
This quarter produced several appellate decisions tightening class certification standards. In Clippinger, the Sixth Circuit en banc reversed certification of a 90,000-member Tennessee insurance class challenging total-loss valuations, holding that individualized valuation disputes predominate and that defendants retain substantive rights to present vehicle-specific evidence under the Rules Enabling Act. The Fourth Circuit in Overby vacated certification of brewery workers, emphasizing that abstract common questions cannot mask individualized threshold issues and that sweeping class definitions compound the error. In Hossfeld, the Seventh Circuit confirmed that numerosity requires evidence, not speculation, even where joinder is practicable. On CAFA jurisdiction, Craig held the local-event exception is jurisdictional and may be raised sua sponte; Zurbriggen applied Royal Canin to hold that amended pleadings can destroy or restore CAFA jurisdiction; and Ewalt held the 30-day removal deadline is not equitably tolled. Defendants should reassess removal strategy and certification defenses in light of these decisions.