On December 2, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed a district court order dismissing a putative class action as moot, holding that: (1) an unaccepted Rule 68 offer of judgment does not moot a plaintiff’s individual claims; and (2) even if a Rule 68 offer were to moot individual claims, the putative class action would remain justiciable, irrespective of whether a motion to certify the class had been filed at the time of the offer. See Stein v. Buccaneers Ltd. P’ship, No. 13-15417, -- F.3d --, 2014 WL 6734819 (11th Cir. 2014); see also Keim v. ADF Midatlantic, LLC, No. 13-13619 (11th Cir. Dec. 2, 2014) (unpublished) (reversing dismissal of class action based on decision in Stein).
While Stein provides some much-needed clarity regarding the effect of Rule 68 offers on putative class actions in the Eleventh Circuit and aligns the Circuit with most others that have considered the issue, the court’s decision eliminates a strategic option class-action defendants have used to obtain early dismissals, and it may have the unintended consequence of rendering early resolutions of class actions less likely.
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