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REPORTER’S NOTE
The Rules Committee recommends amending Rule 2-231 by adding
a new section dealing with interlocutory appeals of orders
granting or denying class action certification. This conforms
the Rule to Fed. R. Civ. P. 23, Class Actions, which was amended
in 1998 by the addition of a similar provision. The federal
decision to allow interlocutory appeals from orders denying or
granting class action certification stemmed from an effort to
avoid the situation (1) where a plaintiff who has been denied
certification is forced to proceed to final judgment on the
merits of an individual claim that is far smaller than the costs
of litigation or (2) where a defendant in a class action suit
which has been certified is forced to settle rather than incur
the costs of defending a class action and run the risk of
potentially ruinous liability. Based on the federal experience,
James K. Archibald, Esq. wrote a letter suggesting that Maryland
Rule 2-231 be conformed to the federal rule. He noted that
currently in Maryland, interlocutory appeals of class action
certification rulings can only be accomplished by a petition for
a writ of mandamus and that following the federal procedure would
provide significant guidance to practitioners and to the Maryland
courts.
The Committee recommends that adoption of the proposed Rule
change be coordinated with a legislative initiative for a like
amendment to Code, Courts Article, §12-303, Appeals from Certain
Interlocutory Orders.
The stylistic change to the source note distinguishes the
source of proposed new section (j) (the 1998 version of Fed. R.
Civ. P. 23) from the source of the other sections of the Rule (in
part, the 1966 version of Fed. R. Civ. P. 23).
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