Summary
Professor Deborah Hensler weighs in on the relationship between “public enforcement of the law and private enforcement of the law” in this Daily Journal article by Emily Green.
California can sue the maker of a fetus gender test kit for false advertising even though buyers of the kit already settled a class action over similar claims, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel held Friday.
But the state cannot seek restitution for buyers, because the class settlement already provided restitution for them and California opted not to participate in those negotiations, the panel ruled.
…
“The interesting question here, and it’s a question that has arisen in some other cases, is what’s the relationship between public enforcement of the law and private enforcement of the law,” said Stanford law professor Deborah Hensler, an expert on class actions. “The court it seems to me has carefully parsed this issue.”