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Weekly Ad In the News: dwp Gay marriage Kennedy Center Honors College bowls Box office Wal-Mart, global warming cases will get hearings before Supreme Court The Supreme Court agrees to take up two cases of interest to corporate America: whether a sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart can proceed as a class action, and whether courts can put limits on carbon emissions from power plants. Share Related 
Text Size sc-dc-1207-supreme-court-20101206 The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two major appeals from corporate America seeking to block mass lawsuits, one involving a huge sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart and the other a massive global warming suit brought against several of the nation's top power producers.In both instances, the justices said they will consider blocking the mass lawsuit from proceeding toward a trial.
In the Wal-Mart case, the justices will decide whether the retail giant can be sued for sex bias in the largest workplace class action in the nation's history. A federal judge and the U.S. court of appeals in San Francisco cleared the lawsuit to proceed as a class action on behalf of 1.5 million women who were employed at Wal-Mart in the past decade.
The lawsuit contends women were regularly paid less than men and denied promotions. In its appeal, the company argues that the lawsuit should not proceed as a class action because hiring and promotion decisions are made in its 3,400 stores.
The issue of when a suit can proceed as a class action is of great interest to corporate lawyers and the trial bar. If a single suit can speak for thousands of employees, companies feel pressure to offer a settlement rather than risk a potentially crippling jury verdict.
The global warming case will decide whether judges and courts can put limits on carbon emissions on the theory that this pollution is a public nuisance. Eight states, including New York, California and Connecticut, joined with environmentalists and launched a lawsuit against the power producers in the Midwest, arguing that their coal-fired plants were contributing to climate change.
Environmentalists said they took the issue to court because Congress was not likely to take up the climate change issue and set limits on greenhouse gasses. They won a significant preliminary victory when the U.S. appeals court in New York cleared the suit to proceed.
But the power industry, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Obama administration joined in urging the high court to stop the lawsuit. They argue that the global warming issue and limits on carbon emissions should be decided by Congress and the White House, not by judges acting on lawsuits.
The two cases, Wal-Mart vs. Dukes and American Electric Power vs. Connecticut, will be heard in the early spring and decided by July.
david.savage@latimes.com Copyright © 2010, Tribune Interactive
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Facebook I wonder if these are the same environmentalists that protested nuclear power to death, such a two faced argument. When will the hippies realize you need to supply base power SOMEHOW? Wind, Solar, Hydro, etc. are not applicable for base power needs. That leaves Coal, Natural Gas, and Nuclear as primary power generation with Coal being the cheapest and Nuclear being the cleanest (in terms of greenhouse emissions). Wake up people, you can only squeeze so much blood from a stone.
jav1231 at 9:56 AM December 06, 2010In regards to "climate change," it's the job of the courts to interpret law through the prism of precedent and the Constitution. NOT to create law. This should be a slam dunk. Hopefully.
carlsherylmorris at 9:46 AM December 06, 2010Come on, Libs... What you want to accomplish is not Constitutionally allowed... Things you're trying to make lawful.. or unlawful, needs to come from Congress... I think the whole country is sick and tired of the courts trying to run the country.. IT IS NOT within their scope of authority... How did you Libs ever get to thinking the way that you do???
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