Over the last several years, both the Supreme Court and Congress have actively considered the scope of class action lawsuits. For the 2015 term, the Court accepted three cases with implications for these suits. In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez , the Court held that a defendant's offer to provide complete relief to settle a plaintiff's individual claims did not moot a class action filed by that individual. In Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo , the Court decided that each person joined in a class action suit need not prove, individually, that she was harmed by the claimed misconduct, if statistical models can be used to show such harm. In Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins , the Court will consider whether a class action meets the standing requirements of Article III if the plaintiff suffered a statutory injury from a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act but no actual damages. Finally, in January 2016, the House passed H.R. 1927 , the Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2016, which would provide that class action suits could be certified only if proposed class members had suffered injuries of the same type and scope. T he class action suit is a procedural device for joining numerous parties in a civil lawsuit when the "issues involved are common to the class as a whole" and when the issues "turn on questions of law applicable in the same manner to each member of the class." The suit is "an exception to the usual rule that litigation is conducted by and on behalf of the individual named parties only." Class actions "save[] the resources of both the courts and the parties by permitting an issue potentially affecting every [class member] to be lit igated in an economical fashion .... " The class action also affords aggrieved parties a remedy when it is not economically feasible to obtain relie f, such as where each claim involves only a small dollar amount. The modern class action appears to be derived from the Bill of Peace, an equitable proceeding developed by the English Court of Chancery, which enabled an equity court to hear an action by or against representatives of a group if the plaintiff could establish that the number of people involved was so large as to make traditional joinder impossible or impracticable. If the court allowed the suit to proceed on a representative basis, the resulting judgment would bind all members of the group, whether they were present during the action or not. The advantage of the representative suit was that it was cheaper and more convenient to bring a single proceeding in equity rather than to adjudicate multiple actions at law. Class suits have long been a part of American jurisprudence, starting with their authorization by federal courts under equity rules. These rules gradually became codified at the state and federal level, but were generally restricted to cases where the class shared a common or general interest and where the parties were too numerous for the cases to be combined traditionally under joinder. With the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of modern society, the class action has taken on a more prominent role. Federal class action suits are currently brought under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Rule 23). Rule 23(a) provides that a member of a class may sue or be sued on behalf of all members only if all of the following four elements are present: (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable [("numerosity") ]; (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class [("commonality")]; (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class [("typicality") ]; and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class [("adequacy") ]. Rule 23(b) further requires that one of the following elements be proven by the party seeking to bring the action: (1) prosecuting separate actions by or against individual class members would create a risk of: (A) inconsistent or varying adjudications with respect to individual class members that would establish incompatible standards of conduct for the party opposing the class; or (B) adjudications with respect to individual class members that, as a practical matter, would be dispositive of the interests of the other members not parties to the individual adjudications or would substantially impair or impede their ability to protect their interests; (2) the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds that apply generally to the class, so that final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief is appropriate respecting the class as a whole; or (3) the court finds that the questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy. The matters pertinent to these findings include: (A) the class members' interests in individually controlling the prosecution or defense of separate actions; (B) the extent and nature of any litigation concerning the controversy already begun by or against class members; (C) the desirability or undesirability of concentrating the litigation of the claims in the particular forum; and (D) the likely difficulties in managing a class action. For purposes of this report, Rule 23(b)(1) will be referred to as the "inconsistency test," Rule 23(b)(2) will be referred to as the "general applicability test," and Rule 23(b)(3) will be referred to as the "predominance test." For many years, federal courts stated that Rule 23 should be given a liberal rather than a restrictive interpretation, meaning that the rule should be interpreted and applied to favor certification of class actions. The Supreme Court had also indicated that a court should not inquire into the merits of the plaintiffs' claims while performing a Rule 23 analysis. The Court, however, had more recently determined that a court should grant class certification only after it has performed a "rigorous analysis" to determine whether the prerequisites of Rule 23 have been satisfied. This seeming conflict was clarified by the Court's decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes which held that, in some cases, an inquiry into the merits of a case is required. In Wal- M art, the Court reversed a decision certifying a class of Wal-Mart employees who alleged sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and sought equitable relief, a declaratory judgment, and backpay. The Court in Wal-Mart found that the "commonality" required by Rule 23(a)(2) not only requires that class members "have suffered the same injury," but also that their claims involve a "common contention" as to how the law was violated. The Court initially determined that there was no proof that the company "operated under a general policy of discrimination." The only company-wide policy that the plaintiffs' submitted as evidence of discrimination was Wal-Mart's policy of allowing discretion by local supervisors over employment matters. While the Court has recognized that giving discretion to lower-level supervisors can be the basis for liability under Title VII, the Court found that the disparate nature of the claims that would arise in such a situation would be unlikely to give rise to a common question of liability or damages. The Court held that "Rule 23 does not set forth a mere pleading standard," but it requires a plaintiff to "affirmatively demonstrate his compliance with the Rule—that is, he must be prepared to prove that there are in fact sufficiently numerous parties, common questions of law or fact, etc." "What matters ... [is] the capacity of a classwide proceeding to generate common answers apt to drive the resolution of the litigation." The class members' claims "must depend upon a common contention ... of such a nature that it is capable of classwide resolution—which means that determination of its truth or falsity will resolve an issue that is central to the validity of each one of the claims in one stroke." Although such a rigorous analysis will frequently overlap with an inquiry into the merits, the Court stated "[t]hat cannot be helped." The plaintiffs offered statistical evidence to establish gender discrimination by comparing the number of women promoted to management positions nationwide with the number of women in the available pool of hourly workers. The Court rejected the sufficiency of such evidence to establish the required proof of commonality, finding that the plaintiffs were additionally required to establish that there was a challenged employment practice common to each claim. The Court also rejected anecdotal evidence of discrimination, noting that the 120 affidavits filed addressing discrimination claims represented a small percentage of the thousands of class members participating in the case. The Court concluded that the commonality requirement needed for class certification was not met where Wal-Mart did not have a uniform classwide discriminatory employment practice, but instead allowed employment decisions to be made by low-level employees. The Court in Wal- M art also addressed the issue of how damages for backpay might be calculated for the class, if gender discrimination were established. The Court overruled the Ninth Circuit's holding that such damages could be determined in a "Trial by Formula." Under this statistical approach, a sample set of class members who had been the subject of gender discrimination would be selected, and a special master, using depositions, would evaluate the backpay owed. The percentage of claims determined to be valid would then be applied to the entire remaining class, and the number of (presumptively) valid claims thus derived would be multiplied by the average backpay award in the sample set to arrive at the entire class recovery. The Court rejected such a statistical method of establishing injury for the class and held that Wal-Mart was entitled to individualized determinations of each employee's eligibility for backpay. In the subsequent case of Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds , however, the Court indicated that the holdings of Wal-Mart should not be interpreted too broadly.