Adam S. Zimmerman

Online
Essay
Exhausting Government Class Actions
Adam S. Zimmerman
Adam S. Zimmerman is a Professor of Law and Gerald Rosen Fellow at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

I have authored amicus briefs on behalf of law professors of civil procedure, administrative law, and federal courts in several cases supporting veteran class actions, including Skaar v. McDonough. I’m grateful to Maureen Carroll, Helen Hershkoff, Alexandra Lahav, and David Marcus for thoughtful discussion and comments. I’d also like to thank the incredible team at the University of Chicago Law Review Online, including Anson Fung, Annie Kors, and Matthew Makowski.

For decades, veterans were one of the few groups that could not bring class actions when the federal government systematically mishandled their disability benefits.

Civil Procedure Class Actions
Print
Article
Volume 89.6
The Class Appeal
Adam S. Zimmerman
Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

For discussion and comments, I’m grateful to Judge Michael Allen, Ahilan Arulanantham, Judge Margaret Bartley, Kent Barnett, Beth Burch, Aaron Caplan, Maureen Carroll, Sergio Campos, Zachary Clopton, Scott Dodson, Nora Engstrom, Jade Ford, Maggie Gardner, Myriam Gilles, Helen Hershkoff, Alexandra Lahav, Steve Landsman, Bryan Lammon, David Jaros, Anita Krishnakumar, David Marcus, Rick Marcus, David Noll, Peter Orlowicz, Elizabeth Pollman, Judith Resnik, Michael Sant’Ambrogio, Mila Sohoni, Michael E. Solimine, Bart Stichman, Adam Steinman, Jay Tidmarsh, Matthew Weiner, Lauren Willis, Michael Wishnie. This Article is dedicated to Judge Jack B. Weinstein.

For a wide variety of claims against the government, the federal courthouse doors are closed to all but those brought by powerful, organized interests. This is because hundreds of laws—colloquially known as “channeling statutes”—require disaffected groups to contest government bodies directly in appellate courts that hear cases individually. In theory, these laws promise quick, consistent, and authoritative legal decisions in appellate courts. In fact, without class actions, government bodies avoid judicial review by selectively avoiding claims brought by some of the most vulnerable people in the administrative state—from veterans and immigrants to coal miners, laborers, and the disabled. This Article proposes a novel solution: courts of appeals should hear class actions themselves.

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