Farmers Insurance Company of Oregon v. Strawn

Issue: (1) Whether the Due Process Clause prohibits a state court from relieving class members of their burden to prove a longstanding and fundamental element of liability"here, individual reliance in a fraud claim"thereby depriving the defendant of its right to assert an individualized defense to a class action; and (2) whether this Court"s rule " that only a "firmly established and regularly followed" state-law procedural bar can foreclose consideration of a federal constitutional claim " prohibits a state court from invoking a concededly unprecedented procedural rule to avoid consideration of a due process challenge to a punitive damages award.