Connecticut v. Federal Communications Commission

How later courts describe this case

• observing that the adequacy of class representation is “primarily a factual issue”
• reversing dismissal of claim brought by student who spent ten days in emergency room with tissue damage from spanking with rubber paddle
• upholding the denial of certification of a nationwide class based on common law fraud because the necessity to apply the laws of many states defeats the predominance requirement under Rule 23(b)(3)
• to have standing to represent the class the plaintiff-representative must be a member of the class
• nine-year-old held upside down by a teacher and beaten on the legs with a split wooden paddle by the principal resulting in bleeding, a welt, a two-inch cut, and a permanent scar shocked the conscience
• five months sufficient time to be aware of Tenth Circuit decision
• declined to certify stating if the court certified the action it must apply the state statute of limitations for every state in which a class member resides citing Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U.S. 797, 105 S.Ct. 2965, 86 L.Ed.2d 628 (1985)
• “excessive corporal punishment could deny substantive due process”