Gilchrist v. National Football League
Petition for certiorari denied on December 12, 2016
Issues: (1) Whether this court should resolve the split in the circuit courts of appeals regarding whether, how, and under what circumstances Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals must be satisfied for a class to be certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 when challenged expert testimony is at issue, particularly in light of this court leaving issues open in Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo; (2) whether this court's rulings in Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor and Comcast Corp. v. Behrend require the district court, before approving the National Football League head trauma settlement under FRCP 23, to have assessed the disputed scientific propositions justifying the settlement under the Daubert standard, given the existence of (a) material disputes about the credibility of those scientific propositions, (b) unrequited requests for adversarial discovery and evidentiary hearings, as well as the fact that (c) the “individual stakes are high and disparities among class members great,” Amchem; and (3) whether it is fundamentally wrong and an abdication of fiduciary duties to absent class members under FRCP 23 for the lower courts to have approved the NFL's head trauma class action settlement where there was no adversarial discovery on, and no definitive assessments about, the disputed “scientific” propositions regarding head trauma that were the basis for vastly disparate relief to class members along with a comprehensive release of claims.
SCOTUSblog Coverage
| Date | Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding) |
|---|
| Aug 30 2016 | Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 3, 2016) |
| Sep 13 2016 | Waiver of right of respondent Curtis Anderson, Objector - Appellant to respond filed. |
| Sep 14 2016 | Order extending time to file response to petition to and including November 2, 2016, for all respondents. |
| Sep 26 2016 | Waiver of right of respondents Jimmie H. Jones, et al. to respond filed. |
| Sep 29 2016 | Brief of Miller respondents in support filed. |
| Oct 27 2016 | Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including November 7, 2016, for all respondents. |
| Nov 2 2016 | Waiver of right of respondents National Football League, et al. to respond filed. |
| Nov 4 2016 | Brief of respondents Kevin Turner, et al. in opposition filed. |
| Nov 4 2016 | Brief of respondents The National Football League and NFL Properties, LLC in opposition filed. VIDED. |
| Nov 16 2016 | Reply of petitioner Scott Gilchrist, Individually and on Behalf of the Estate of Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist filed. |
| Nov 21 2016 | DISTRIBUTED for Conference of December 9, 2016. |
| Nov 22 2016 | Supplemental brief of respondents Kevin Turner, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed) |
| Dec 12 2016 | Petition DENIED. |
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