Susan Chamberlan and Henry Fok, Plaintiffs-Respondents v. Ford Motor Company, Defendant-Petitioner

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f) permits a discretionary interlocutory appeal from a district court order denying or granting a class action certification. Although other circuits have explored the contours of the rule, we have not. We take this opportunity to identify for the first time the criteria we will consider in evaluating whether to permit an interlocutory appeal under Rule 23(f).

We begin with the premise that Rule 23(f) review should be a rare occurrence. We adopt the principles justifying review that are set out in the Advisory Committee Notes — the presence of a death knell situation for either party absent review and the presence of an unsettled and fundamental issue of law related to class actions — along with an additional criterion, manifest error in the district court’s certification decision. Employing these guidelines in the present case, we conclude that the application for permission to appeal should be denied.

Background

Plaintiffs Susan Chamberlan and Henry Fok (“Class Plaintiffs”) filed a class action lawsuit in state court against Ford Motor Company (“Ford”) and several John Does, alleging that Ford knowingly manufactured, sold, and distributed…