Industrial Welding Supplies of Hattiesburg, LLC; Airgas, Inc.; and Airgas USA, LLC, Appellants v. John Pinson And…

Summary

The court held that the circuit court's class-certification order failed to satisfy the mandatory requirement that it define the class claims, issues, or defenses, rather than merely define the class and state conclusorily that Rule 23's requirements were met. Because the deficient order prevented meaningful appellate review, the court remanded for entry of a compliant order and did not reach the appellants' remaining challenges to commonality, predominance, or superiority. Justice Wynne, dissenting, would have reached the merits because no party requested additional findings and the existing record permitted abuse-of-discretion review.