Dewalt v. Hooks

Summary

The Court affirmed the denial of class certification because plaintiffs failed to show that the proposed class members shared a common issue that predominated over individualized issues. The Court held that differences in the purposes, durations, procedural safeguards, and conditions of the challenged restrictive-housing assignments supported the trial court's conclusion that no common issue could be resolved on a class-wide basis. The Court did not reach the separate grounds concerning adequacy of representation or superiority.