Lynne Wang v. Chinese Daily News, Inc.

Named plaintiffs filed a class action suit against defendant-appellant Chinese Daily News, Inc. (“CDN”), alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), of California’s Unfair Business Practices Law, and of the California Labor Code. The district court certified the FLSA claim as a collective action and certified the state-law claims as a class action. After a sixteen-day jury trial and a three-day bench trial, the district court entered judgment in favor of plaintiffs. On September 27, 2010, we affirmed the district court. On October 3, 2011, the United States Supreme Court vacated and remanded for reconsideration in light of its decision in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 2541 , 180 L.Ed.2d 374 (2011). We now reverse the district court’s certification of the plaintiff class under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(2), and we remand for the district court to reconsider its analysis under Rules 23(a) and 23(b)(3).

I. Background

On March 5, 2004, Lynne Wang, Yu Fang Ines Kai, and Hui Jung Pao filed suit against CDN on behalf of current, former, and future CDN employees based in CDN’s San Francisco and Monterey Park (Los…