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Wal-Mart, Barclays, Theflyonthewall, Langbar, Primary Global in Court News

U.S. Supreme Court in a decision that will result in new limits on class actions, ruled that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. can be sued for discrimination on behalf of millions of workers potentially a female.

The judges said the lawyers pressing the case failed to report to a common enterprise that led to gender discrimination against workers for thousands of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club across the country.

Workers "do not provide convincing evidence of a discriminatory wage and the entire enterprise promotion policy," wrote Justice Antonin Scalia of five members of the court.The judges were unanimous on aspects of public opinion and divided on others.

The company, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, said in a statement that the decision "effectively ends the lawsuit."

"As the majority makes clear, the plaintiffs' claims were at odds to show a salary throughout the organization and promotion policy," Wal-Mart said.

The decision may help companies face similar suits. Units of CIGNA Corporation (CI), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS), Bayer AG (Bayne), Toshiba Corp. (6502), Publicis Groupe SA, Deere & Co. (DE) and Costco Wholesale Corp.(COST) all complaints against sex discrimination which seek class-action status. More than 20 businesses supported Wal-Mart to the Supreme Court, including Intel Corp. (INTC), Altria Group Inc. (MO), Bank of America Corp, Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and General Electric Co. (GE)

Four justices - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan - said they would have referred the case to a lower court and let the workers try to move forward with a class action under a different legal theory .

Lawyers for the women said they would seek to advance claims on behalf of injured workers, either as individuals or as part of smaller groups.

"This case is not over," said Brad Seligman, one of two lead attorneys for the workers. "Wal-Mart is not picked up. There are thousands of complaints of discrimination that remain to be filed. "

The case was one of the most closely watched conflicts Supreme Court cases in years, partly because the judges did not look at the standards for certification of a class action in 12 years.Billions of dollars were at stake for Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the world.

The case is Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes, 10 to 277, the U.S. Supreme Court (Washington).

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