Ninth Circuit Affirms Class Certification Decision in Dukes v. Wal-Mart

I understand that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just issued its order affirming in part the district court's order granting certification in Dukes v. Wal-Mart. Our original post on Dukes is here. I am trying to download the opinion now and will post more when I know more. Here is the summary of the opinion:

Plaintiffs allege that Wal-Mart, Inc., discriminates against women in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After detailed briefing and hearing, the district court certified a class encompassing all women employed by Wal-Mart at any time after December 26, 1998, and encompassing all Plaintiffs’ claims for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and back pay, while creating a separate opt-out class encompassing the same employees for punitive damages. We affirm the district court’s certification of a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2) class of current employees with respect to their claims for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and back pay. With respect to the claims for punitive damages, we remand so that the district court may consider whether to certify the class under Rule 23(b)(2) or (b)(3). We also remand with respect to the claims of putative class members who no longer worked for Wal-Mart when the complaint was filed so that the district court may consider whether to certify an additional class or classes under Rule 23(b)(3).

This is a very long opinion (95 pages for the majority, 137 total). I've decided to post my commentary in sections. The first section will be up shortly.