Skilstaf, Inc. v. Cvs Caremark Corp.

This is an appeal from the dismissal of a putative class action filed in a California federal district court. The dismissal was based on a Massachusetts federal district court’s final judgment certifying a nationwide class and approving a class settlement. A class member who appeared through counsel as an objector in the Massachusetts case filed the present suit in California seeking to represent a nationwide class. The California complaint sought damages based in large part on the same facts alleged in the Massachusetts case, but against different defendants. The putative class was part of the same class certified in the Massachusetts case.

The California defendants moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). The motion was based on a covenant not to sue contained in the settlement and final judgment entered in the Massachusetts case. Under that provision, the class members, including the member who filed the California suit as the named plaintiff, not only released their claims against the Massachusetts defendants but also agreed not to sue “any other person seeking to establish liability based, in whole or in part,” on the claims released.

The…