Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay

After Coopers & Lybrand (defendant) certified financial statements in a prospectus later restated downward, the Livesays (plaintiffs) sued on behalf of a class of investors; the district court initially certified then decertified the class, and the court of appeals held this decertification was appealable as a final decision under the 'death knell' doctrine, reasoning the Livesays' small individual claim made it unlikely they would otherwise pursue an appeal, and reversed the decertification.