Nearly all cultures have myths about bullies that use their size and authority to oppress and injure individuals who lack the power to defend themselves. Even the Christian bible features a story from the Hebrew Scriptures about a domineering giant (Goliath) who is slayed by a much smaller child (David) with a slingshot. The story alludes to the fact that regardless of the foe’s size and power, with assistance, a less powerful child can easily defeat a giant. In America, there are giants in the business community who dominate and injure individuals because they have powerful legal representation and unlimited resources to crush the little guy in the justice system by drawing out a case for years. There have been instances when powerful corporations meet their matches and lose lawsuits because many separate individuals band together to form a class that is able to afford powerful legal representation equal to corporate giants, and with a level playing field, corporations are not guaranteed victory.

Within the past month, the ability of individuals to band together to take on powerful corporations was dealt a crushing blow when the conservative Supreme Court disallowed class action status to millions of women who suffered pay discrimination at the hands of retail giant Wal-Mart. It is bad enough that the High Court deprived the women an opportunity to plead their case before the court, but the real damage was the precedent that disallows individuals from joining forces to fight corporate injustice and damaging business practices. Within the past week, that precedent was cited by a Michigan judge who was set to hear a case between a hundred land owners and corporate giant Dow Chemical.

The Michigan case involved landowners who complained that the chemical giant spread dioxin, a highly toxic and cancer-causing byproduct of chemical manufacturing process through the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron. When rivers downstream flooded, sediment laden with dioxin was deposited on properties in the floodplain. Soil samples of floodplain properties revealed dioxin contamination thousands of times higher than Michigan allows and prompted health officials to warn property owners to wear masks while mowing their lawns, keep children from playing in dirt near their homes, avoid eating fish and livestock raised in the floodplain, and to take other precautions to keep from being poisoned. The land owners say property values are diminished and they are not able to fully use their properties because of the contamination; not to mention the health damages they may have already been subjected to. The judge, Leopold Borello, had granted class status for the group but reversed his decision because, although the case met Michigan guidelines for class status, the Supreme Court’s Wal-Mart decision created new rules for what a group must have in common with one another in order to be considered a class.

The difference between the cases is that one was in federal court and should have no bearing on Michigan certifying a class action but the judge still acquiesced to the corporate giant’s demand. The entire issue does not bode well for future class actions in Michigan because the state Supreme Court is a conservative majority that tends to favor corporations over individuals. The case also shows the long-lasting damage the conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court continues to wreak on America. Republicans constantly decry the dangers of liberal activist judges legislating from the bench, but the current High Court has been making legislation for Republicans since last year’s Citizens United ruling allowing unlimited secret campaign funding.

Republicans have attempted to protect corporate malfeasance for years with calls for tort reform to eliminate individual’s ability to file suit against corporations guilty of causing injury from negligence and discrimination. Now that the High Court has bypassed the legislative process that resisted passing tort reforms, Republicans have won and corporations no longer have to worry about being sued by a class. Individuals may file suit against guilty corporations, but if a single person can even afford to hire an attorney, they will hardly be a match for a corporation’s legal team, and often, a case will hang on for many years until the plaintiff runs out of money or dies.