28-02-2016, 06:29 PM
(This post was last modified: 28-02-2016, 10:36 PM by Drew Phipps.)
Antonin Scalia's Death Just Cost This Company $835 Million
Dow Chemical settled a price-fixing lawsuit because it lost the late justice's vote.
02/26/2016 08:13 pm ET Cristian Farias Legal Affairs Reporter, The Huffington Post
Dow Chemical Co., one of America's largest chemical manufacturers, agreed on Friday to settle a price-fixing lawsuit for $835 million in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia's death. The company had challenged a $1 billion judgment in a high-stakes, class-action case. But without Scalia, it appears the new reality at the high court was too big a gamble for the company to continue with the litigation. "Growing political uncertainties due to recent events within the Supreme Court and increased likelihood for unfavorable outcomes for business involved in class action suits have changed Dow's risk assessment of the situation," the company said in a statement.
Dow said a case the Supreme Court heard last year but hasn't yet decided, Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, was the reason its own case was still on hold at the court. Both cases present common questions of law that may limit class-action liability -- an area where the Supreme Court of late has been friendly to business interests. Stunningly, Dow's statement singled out two major cases in which Scalia wrote the majority opinions -- 2011's Wal-Mart v. Dukesand 2013's Comcast v. Behrend -- essentially conceding that, without Scalia, the company no longer had any prospects of winning. Both of those cases were decided 5 to 4, with conservatives ruling for the corporations. Given the new eight-justice court, Dow called its decision to end the litigation "the right decision for the company and our shareholders." As is usual with settlements, the company maintained its innocence. "While Dow is settling this case, it continues to strongly believe that it was not part of any conspiracy and the judgment was fundamentally flawed as a matter of class action law," the company said.
A jury in 2013 had found Dow Chemical liable in a price-fixing scheme with four other companies for chemicals used to produce urethane, a compound used in foam upholstery for furniture and plastic walls in refrigerators, according to Bloomberg. About 2,400 businesses that bought the chemicals from Dow joined in a class action against the industrial giant. Friday's settlement is just another example of the shifting landscape at the Supreme Court -- and why it matters who fills the now-vacant seat.
*******
So, if there was foul play involved in Scalia's death, that gives us 2401 suspects and 835 million motives. (The extra suspect is the victorious Washington law firm of Joseph Goldberg, trust-busting attorney, but there is another pending Supreme Court case Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, on the same sort of class certification issues. Stay tuned.)
Bouaphakeo represented some 3300 workers that were not paid by Tyson for the time it took them to put on, and take off, and clean, and store, the safety equipment required by law and by the company in the dangerous meat packing/slaughter factory line. Tyson had lost this case twice before and was refusing to comply with an existing injunction to pay the workers. At trial, the workers won 5.8 million dollars and Tyson appealed. Tyson attempted to rely on Scalia's Walmart opinion (denying that there was a legally cognizable "class" of female workers that had been subjected to Walmart policies that statistically resulted in less pay and fewer promotions than male employees) to argue that its meat-packers were a class. (I'm no expert, but the Tyson "class" sure looked far more homogenous than the Walmart "class.")
So, to sum up, between these 2 cases, there are about 5710 entities with a monetary interest: Either about $1100 each (3300 Tyson worker-plaintiffs), a group of Tyson lawyers with roughly $400,000 at stake, or $350,000 each (2400 Dow business-plaintiffs) and a group of lawyers with about $300 million at stake, in keeping Scalia from ruling against and throwing out their verdict. There might be many such cases pending in the Courts of Appeals. With that kind of stakes up for grabs, a financial motive for Scalia's murder (if, in fact, it was a murder) cannot be ruled out.
Dow Chemical settled a price-fixing lawsuit because it lost the late justice's vote.
02/26/2016 08:13 pm ET Cristian Farias Legal Affairs Reporter, The Huffington Post
Dow Chemical Co., one of America's largest chemical manufacturers, agreed on Friday to settle a price-fixing lawsuit for $835 million in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia's death. The company had challenged a $1 billion judgment in a high-stakes, class-action case. But without Scalia, it appears the new reality at the high court was too big a gamble for the company to continue with the litigation. "Growing political uncertainties due to recent events within the Supreme Court and increased likelihood for unfavorable outcomes for business involved in class action suits have changed Dow's risk assessment of the situation," the company said in a statement.
Dow said a case the Supreme Court heard last year but hasn't yet decided, Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, was the reason its own case was still on hold at the court. Both cases present common questions of law that may limit class-action liability -- an area where the Supreme Court of late has been friendly to business interests. Stunningly, Dow's statement singled out two major cases in which Scalia wrote the majority opinions -- 2011's Wal-Mart v. Dukesand 2013's Comcast v. Behrend -- essentially conceding that, without Scalia, the company no longer had any prospects of winning. Both of those cases were decided 5 to 4, with conservatives ruling for the corporations. Given the new eight-justice court, Dow called its decision to end the litigation "the right decision for the company and our shareholders." As is usual with settlements, the company maintained its innocence. "While Dow is settling this case, it continues to strongly believe that it was not part of any conspiracy and the judgment was fundamentally flawed as a matter of class action law," the company said.
A jury in 2013 had found Dow Chemical liable in a price-fixing scheme with four other companies for chemicals used to produce urethane, a compound used in foam upholstery for furniture and plastic walls in refrigerators, according to Bloomberg. About 2,400 businesses that bought the chemicals from Dow joined in a class action against the industrial giant. Friday's settlement is just another example of the shifting landscape at the Supreme Court -- and why it matters who fills the now-vacant seat.
*******
So, if there was foul play involved in Scalia's death, that gives us 2401 suspects and 835 million motives. (The extra suspect is the victorious Washington law firm of Joseph Goldberg, trust-busting attorney, but there is another pending Supreme Court case Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, on the same sort of class certification issues. Stay tuned.)
Bouaphakeo represented some 3300 workers that were not paid by Tyson for the time it took them to put on, and take off, and clean, and store, the safety equipment required by law and by the company in the dangerous meat packing/slaughter factory line. Tyson had lost this case twice before and was refusing to comply with an existing injunction to pay the workers. At trial, the workers won 5.8 million dollars and Tyson appealed. Tyson attempted to rely on Scalia's Walmart opinion (denying that there was a legally cognizable "class" of female workers that had been subjected to Walmart policies that statistically resulted in less pay and fewer promotions than male employees) to argue that its meat-packers were a class. (I'm no expert, but the Tyson "class" sure looked far more homogenous than the Walmart "class.")
So, to sum up, between these 2 cases, there are about 5710 entities with a monetary interest: Either about $1100 each (3300 Tyson worker-plaintiffs), a group of Tyson lawyers with roughly $400,000 at stake, or $350,000 each (2400 Dow business-plaintiffs) and a group of lawyers with about $300 million at stake, in keeping Scalia from ruling against and throwing out their verdict. There might be many such cases pending in the Courts of Appeals. With that kind of stakes up for grabs, a financial motive for Scalia's murder (if, in fact, it was a murder) cannot be ruled out.
"All that is necessary for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing." (unknown)
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."