A study conducted by the Center to provide the Third Circuit Task Force on Selection of Class Counsel information on judges who have employed an auction or bidding method to select class counsel.

This is an expanded version of a report that was previously published as Appendix E of the Report of the Advisory Group on Civil Rules and the Working Group on Mass Torts (Report on Mass Tort Litigation) February 15, 1999.

This report by Professor Jay Tidmarsh of Notre Dame Law School examines five cases in which Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure has been used to achieve a settlement of a mass tort controversy.

A random national sample of 8,320 civil cases filed between November 1987 and January 1990 in 86 federal district courts included 51 cases involving class action allegations in the complaint or judicial action in response to class action activity.