| Venue: | AZ SC |
| Facts: | Copper smelters are hurting the air for a lot of people in Arizona. The class plaintiffs potentially number 700K. |
| Posture: | Class action suit. Trial court denies certification. Court of appeals dismisses the appeal on procedural grounds. Dismissal vacated, and the court of appeals was ordered to deal with the merits, and they dismiss the suit. |
| Issue: | Did the trial court erroneously dismiss the class action? |
| Holding: | No. Affirmed. |
| Rule: | FRCP 23(a)(2): there must be questions of law or fact common to all members of the class. |
| Reasoning: | This is just way too many people to be manageable. |
| Dicta: | Dissent: the size of a class should not be dispositive. The questions need to be common, but nt identical. Also, the legislature has specifically recognized that this might be a real-live kind of damage. |