The final "classic case" for now, Sprague v. General Motors Corp. involved an alleged violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The plaintiffs had sued GM claiming that it had not provided them with the fully "paid up" lifetime healthcare benefits it had promised when it convinced them to
classic cases
Classic Cases – Castano v. American Tobacco Co.
By The Editors on
Posted in Certification
Castano v. American Tobacco Co. (5th Cir. 1996) involved a class of smokers, their estates, and their survivors arrayed against what was becoming a classic corporate villain: the tobacco companies.
Like in In re Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, the atmospherics favored the plaintiffs. Tobacco companies had already lost credibility in the court of public…