Scalia’s death threw a wrench into this calculation, however.
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Following Scalia’s death earlier this month, the Supreme Court is now evenly split 4-4 between justices who are usually conservative and those who are liberal.
Stunningly, Dow’s statement singled out two major cases in which Scalia wrote the majority opinions – 2011’s Wal-Mart v. Dukes and 2013’s Comcast v. Behrend – essentially conceding that, without Scalia, the company no longer had any prospects of winning. Any 4-4 decision by the court in the meantime could leave decisions by lower courts-such as the Kansas decision with respect to Dow-intact.
Dow Chemical on Friday settled a class-action lawsuit for $835 million, citing the uncertainty at the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Perhaps Dow would have had to change its thinking and settle the case even if Washington was running smoothly.
Dow, the largest US chemical maker by sales, said Friday the accord will resolve its challenges to a $1.06 billion award to purchasers of compounds for urethanes, chemicals used to make foam upholstery for furniture and plastic walls in refrigerators.
Senate Republicans have said they will not consider a nominee from President Barack Obama during an election year. “Companies will have to be careful what they ask for in seeking review, or at least face an added burden in prevailing at the court on class-action issues”.
In January 2013, Dow Chemical went to trial in Kansas City and a federal jury found the company guilty of conspiring to fix prices, imposing a $400m verdict. “We thought it best for the company and the stakeholders to settle this and move on”.
The company said it still believed the original verdict was “fundamentally flawed”, but felt settling was in the best interest of shareholders.
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The jury originally awarded 0 million in damages, which was tripled under antitrust law and reduced to $1.06 billion due to other settlements. But if it had and divided 4 to 4, the underlying U.S. Court of Appeals decision in favor of the plaintiffs would stand.
