Smentek v. Dart

Ct. of Appeals granted defendants’ petition for leave to appeal that challenged Dist. Ct.’s grant of plaintiff’s motion for class certification in section 1983 action alleging that defendants’ failure to provide more than one dentist for jail of 10,000 inmates violated Eighth Amendment, where defendants asserted that Dist. Ct. was required under notions of comity to deny class certification motion where two other Dist. Ct. judges within same division had denied same request in two prior identical cases. Ct. of Appeals, in rejecting defendants’ argument, ultimately found that under Smith, 131 SCt 2368, rulings in both prior cases were not binding on instant Dist. Ct. judge, and that notions of comity could not serve to counter ruling in Smith.