April Fool's–a day that one cannot trust what one reads on the Web, is fortunately over. So, please rest assured that Rutgers law student Brandon Riley's note We're Cramped as Hell, and We Won't Take It Anymore: Plotting a Class Action Disability Claim on Behalf of the Very Tall against Air Carriers for a Failure to Accomodate, 44 Rutgers L.J. 123 (2013), is an actual publication with an actual argument. Riley plots out how one might bring a class action on behalf of very tall people (defined, via statistical analysis, as anyone taller than six foot three) under Rule 23(b)(2). The injunction would be preferential seating in the exit row. Interestingly, he concludes that the real difficulty will not be Rule 23, but instead the underlying substantive law:
Likely the biggest hurdle to overcome, in my view, will be the court's raised eyebrow and dubious disposition to the assertion that folks over six foot three are in any way "disabled." As demonstrated, however, there is a case to be made, but fitting such an argument into the rubric of the Americans with Disabilities Act will be challenging. If anything, the argument serves to underscore the legal mountains folks who are discriminated against must move in order to assert their rights.
I'll let you read the Note itself with only two further comments:
- The Note does a nice job of laying out how one can plan out a class action complaint; which is useful for both plaintiffs' and defense attorneys.
- At six foot five, this may be one of the few class actions I can really get behind.
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