In the case of Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay et al., 1977, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a plaintiff's appeal to class certification denial does not qualify as a "final decision" and is therefore not immediately appealable under federal law (28 U.S.C §1291). The lawsuit was initially filed by employees against their employer, alleging racial discrimination in promotions. The District Court denied class action status on grounds that common issues did not predominate over individual ones. When plaintiffs appealed this ruling directly to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, it reversed the lower court’s decision based on its “death-knell” doctrine which allowed immediate appeals if denying class status would end litigation for all practical purposes. However, upon reaching the Supreme Court, it rejected this doctrine stating such decisions were inherently interlocutory and could only be reviewed after final judgment on entire proceedings had been passed.

In the dissenting opinion for Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, Justice Thurgood Marshall argued that the majority's decision was inconsistent with both precedent and practicality. He contended that a denial of class certification should be considered an appealable final order because it effectively ends the lawsuit for all but one plaintiff, making it functionally equivalent to a dismissal. Furthermore, he pointed out that forcing individual plaintiffs to proceed separately would result in inefficient repetition of effort and could potentially lead to inconsistent judgments on identical issues. Finally, he expressed concern about potential abuse by defendants who might use strategic timing of motions to deny class certification in order to force plaintiffs into separate lawsuits or discourage them from pursuing their claims at all.