BP America Production Co. v. Patterson

Summary

The court affirmed certification of a class seeking royalties allegedly underpaid through BP's use of a netback methodology. It held that ignorance, reliance, and inability to discover the claim supporting fraudulent-concealment tolling may be inferred from circumstantial evidence common to the class, while allowing BP to rebut those inferences with individual evidence. The court also held that the proposed class period was sufficiently definite and supported by evidence permitting individualized damages calculations.