[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by steve B

For us non- lawyers.... What's a predominance issue?

Sorry. One of several requirements to maintain a class action is that common issues must "predominate" over individualized ones. Translated, that means roughly that you need to be able to establish liability towards the entire class by common proof and each plaintiff doesn't have to present his or her case. For example, everyone who bought the stock is injured if the company issued false financials and inflated the stock price. Each member of the class was hurt in the same way because the drug was inherently dangerous, or the car had a manufacturing defect.

But if the question is were people hurt because PSA failed to catch altered cards, or stiffed people on the guarantee, or was bad at grading, that feels to me like each and every person would have to show that on a case by case/card by card basis, even if there was an overall pattern. Just showing the pattern doesn't prove YOU were wronged. You would need to show that YOUR card was misgraded or altered or that YOU were stiffed on the guarantee. If that's the case, individualized issues "predominate" over common ones. If the case has to proceed as a boatload of mini-trials, it doesn't warrant class treatment.

Somewhat simplified but that is the idea.