Walmart A.D. (after Dukes) and the case that won’t die

When the Supreme Court ruled that a sex discrimination case against Walmart wasn’t worth of class action status that was supposed to end things. Wrong.

According to Reuters, plaintiffs in the Betty Dukes, et. al. sex bias class-action case against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court are expected to unveil plans today for how they plan to resuscitate their lawsuits. Lawyers for the women are expected to argue in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that they should be able to press ahead with multiple, narrower class-action claims against the retailer, according to the news service.

Joseph Sellers, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs and a partner at law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll in Washington, said plaintiffs will propose a smaller class-action lawsuit in California, and could bring similar cases elsewhere in the country.

“There was this sense after the Supreme Court decision that the case was dead, and we dispute that,” Reuters quoted Sellers as saying. “We think the decision leaves open the possibility of bringing more narrowly tailored class actions.”

Not so, according to Walmart.

“We strongly believe the Supreme Court’s decision forecloses any reconfigured class,” Reuters quoted Theodore Boutrous, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles and lead attorney for Walmart, as saying.