Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

FCA US LLC, et al. v. Brian Flynn, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 18-8010

Certiorari denied · January 7, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 3%–11%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition and a business petitioner.

Questions presented

Plaintiffs brought a purported class action claiming that they bought or leased FCAmanufactured vehicles that were “excessively vulnerable” to being hacked. Even though no class member’s vehicle had ever actually been hacked, the district court held that plaintiffs had Article III standing and certified three statewide classes containing more than 220,000 consumers claiming $440 million in damages. In a series of three rulings, the Seventh Circuit allowed this class action to proceed. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) allows a court of appeals to grant interlocutory review of a class-certification decision based solely on manifest error.

  2. Whether the class-certification decision is manifestly erroneous because plaintiffs lack Article III standing; because the district court failed to conduct a rigorous predominance analysis; and because class treatment is not the superior method of adjudication where there is no common question uniting the three statewide classes.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Thomas Henderson Dupree Jr.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

For respondent
Jeffery Thomas McPherson
Armstrong Teasdale LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Jan 07 2019
    Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by CTIA–THE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION, et al. GRANTED.
  2. Jan 07 2019
    Motion for leave to file a brief in opposition under seal with redacted copies for the public record GRANTED.
  3. Jan 07 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  4. Dec 12 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
  5. Dec 11 2018
    Reply of petitioners FCA US LLC and Harman International Industries, Incorporated filed.
  6. Nov 28 2018
    Motion for leave to file a brief in opposition under seal with redacted copies for the public record filed by respondents.
  7. Nov 28 2018
    Brief of respondents in opposition filed.
  8. Oct 29 2018
    Brief amici curiae of National Association of Manufacturers and American Tort Reform Association filed.
  9. Oct 29 2018
    Amicus brief of CTIA–THE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION, et al. not accepted for filing. (October 31, 2018) (Corrected version to be submitted)
  10. Oct 29 2018
    Motion for leave to file amici brief filed by CTIA–THE WIRELESS ASSOCIATION, et al.
  11. Oct 26 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Inc. filed.
  12. Oct 23 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 28, 2018.
  13. Oct 19 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 29, 2018 to November 28, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Sep 26 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 29, 2018)