Cite as: 521 U. S. 591 (1997)
Syllabus
members. E. g., East Tex. Motor Freight System, Inc. v. Rodriguez, 431 U. S. 395, 403. In this case, named parties with diverse medical conditions sought to act on behalf of a single giant class rather than on behalf of discrete subclasses. In significant respects, the interests of those within the single class are not aligned. Most saliently, for the currently injured, the critical goal is generous immediate payments. That goal tugs against the interest of exposure-only plaintiffs in ensuring an ample, inflation-protected fund for the future. Cf. General Telephone Co. of Northwest v. EEOC, 446 U. S. 318, 331. The disparity between the currently injured and exposure-only categories of plaintiffs, and the diversity within each category, are not made insignificant by the District Court's finding that petitioners' assets suffice to pay settled claims. Although this is not a Rule 23(b)(1)(B) "limited fund" case, the settlement's terms—e. g., no inflation adjustments, only a few claimants per year permitted to opt out at the back end, and loss-of-consortium claims extinguished—reflect essential allocation decisions designed to confine compensation and to limit defendants' liability. Thus, the settling parties achieved a global compromise with no structural assurance of fair and adequate representation for the diverse groups and individuals affected. The Third Circuit found no assurance here that the named parties operated under a proper understanding of their representational responsibilities. That assessment is on the mark. Pp. 625-628. (e) In light of the conclusions that the class does not satisfy the requirements of common issue predominance and adequacy of representation, this Court need not rule, definitively, on the adequacy of the notice given here. The Court recognizes, however, the gravity of the question whether class-action notice sufficient under the Constitution and Rule 23 could ever be given to legions so unselfconscious and amorphous as the class certified by the District Court. P. 628.
(f) The argument is sensibly made that a nationwide administrative claims processing regime would provide the most secure, fair, and efficient means of compensating victims of asbestos exposure. Congress, however, has not adopted such a solution. Rule 23, which must be interpreted with fidelity to the Rules Enabling Act and applied with the interests of absent class members in close view, cannot carry the large load the settling parties and the District Court heaped upon it. Pp. 628-629.
83 F. 3d 610, affirmed.
Ginsburg, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, and Thomas, JJ., joined. Breyer, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which
595
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