Supreme Court blocks Wal-Mart sex discrimination lawsuit

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The Supreme Court has ruled against 1.5 million women who claim they were discriminated against by retail giant Wal-Mart.

The court unanimously said that what would have been the largest class action in American history could not go forward because the case would have been too big and unfair to Wal-Mart.

In a 5-4 decision, the justices also ruled that there was not enough evidence to prove that the women had something in common in each of the 1.5 million cases.

“This is a huge, huge victory for Wal-Mart,” CNN’s Jeff Toobin explained Monday. “This was a lawsuit that would have been the biggest class action in the history of the United States. Certainly, this was a case that even a company as big as Wal-Mart had to fear in terms of the financial repercussions. But now they don’t have to fear that anymore and Wal-Mart and its directors are certainly breathing very easy today.”

Experts say that the women can now pursue their cases individually but there will be far less pressure on the retail giant to settle.