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340 Ark. 351

10 S.W.3d 838

BNL Equity Corp. v. Pearson

Supreme Court of Arkansas

Decided February 10, 2000

Supreme Court of Arkansas · decided 2000-02-10

Relies on General Telephone Co. of Southwest v. Falcon · Mega Life and Health Ins. Co. v. Jacola · Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance v. Farm Bureau Policy Holders & Members

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2000-02-10

How this case has been cited

Cited by 52 later decisions — most recently June 2022 · most notably Williamson v. Sanofi Winthrop Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (2001), TERIS, LLC v. Chandler (2008)

52 state decisions

380200020102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

RAY THORNTON, Justice,

¶1dissenting. I am concerned that the court has opened the door to class actions without requiring the careful analysis that should be given before certification. The court once held that “with regard to Rule 23 motions, we have specifically stated that we will follow the federal rules in class actions” Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. v. Farm Bureau Policy Holders, 323 Ark. 206, 918 S.W.2d 129 (1996). However, we have eliminated the requirement under federal rules that there must be a rigorous analysis for certification as oudined in General Telephone Company of South West v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147 (1982). See Mega Life & Health Ins. Co. v. Jacola, 330 Ark. 261, 954 S.W.2d 898 (1997).

¶2In my view, we are approaching the point that class actions have been so extended that they elevate efficiency over legal principles. While I respectfully dissent from the direction the majority is taking, I recognize that the grounds for my dissent are being eroded by the cases we have recently decided. I respectfully dissent.

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