Abuse of Discretion Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Theresa Riffey, et al. v. Bruce V. Rauner

Case No.: 16-3487

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and MANION and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Abuse of Discretion Collective Bargaining Agreement

When this case was last before our court, we upheld the district court's decision declining to certify a class of home health care assistants ("the Assistants") who were seeking a refund of the fair-share fees they had paid to a union for collective-bargaining representation. We agreed with the putative class that no one could be compelled to pay fair-share fees, pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision in Harris v. Quinn, 134 S. Ct. 2618 (2014), and that any such objector would be entitled to have his or her payments refunded. The only question on the table was whether, with that common issue resolved, the district court abused its discretion when it determined that for purposes of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), issues common to the class would not predominate over individual issues and a class action would not be a superior vehicle for resolving the claims. Any person who wished to pursue an individual claim for a refund remained free to do so.

Seeking review of our decision, the putative class representatives filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court. On June 28, 2018, the Court granted that petition and remanded the case to this court for further consideration in light of Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018). See 138 S. Ct. 2708 (2018)...