6th Circuit rejects 7th Circuit’s ‘juridical link doctrine’

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted May 24, 2023 10:17 AM

Thomas Fox had standing to pursue a “takings” claim against Gratiot County, Mich., because it kept the surplus after selling his real estate for $25,000 to pay $3,000 in taxes. But his federal class action included 26 other counties that allegedly harmed “absent class members” by engaging in the same practice.The question for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was whether the “juridical link doctrine” — adopted by the 7th Circuit in 2002 — justified Fox’s class action against the “non-Gratiot Counties.”A district judge …

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