868
Breyer, J., dissenting
own day in court. Unusually high litigation costs, unusually long delays, and limitations upon the total amount of resources available for payment together mean that most potential plaintiffs may not have a realistic alternative. And Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 was designed to address situations in which the historical model of individual actions would not, for practical reasons, work. See generally Advisory Committee's Notes on Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 23, 28 U. S. C. App., p. 696 (discussing, in relation to Rule 23(b)(1)(B), instances in which individual judgments, "while not technically concluding the other members, might do so as a practical matter").
For these reasons, I cannot easily find a legal answer to the problems this case raises by referring, as does the majority, to "our 'deep-rooted historic tradition that everyone should have his own day in court.' " Ante, at 846 (citation omitted). Instead, in these circumstances, I believe our Court should allow a district court full authority to exercise every bit of discretionary power that the law provides. See generally Califano v. Yamasaki, 442 U. S. 682, 703 (1979) ("[M]ost issues arising under Rule 23 . . . [are] committed in the first instance to the discretion of the district court"); Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U. S. 330, 345 (1979) (district courts have "broad power and discretion . . . with respect to matters involving the certification" of class actions). And, in doing so, the Court should prove extremely reluctant to overturn a fact-specific or circumstance-specific exercise of that discretion, where a court of appeals has found it lawful. Cf. Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U. S. 474, 490-491 (1951) (Supreme Court will rarely overturn appellate court review of agency factfinding). This cautionary principle of review leads me to an ultimate conclusion different from that of the majority.
B
The case before us involves a class of individuals (and their families) exposed to asbestos manufactured by Fibreboard
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