In the case of Microsoft Corp. v. Baker, a group of Xbox 360 owners filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft alleging that the design defect in the console scratched game discs. The district court struck down their request for class certification and ruled in favor of Microsoft due to lack of evidence proving commonality among claims. The plaintiffs appealed but were denied by the Ninth Circuit Court as it lacked jurisdiction over interlocutory appeals (appeals made before all claims are resolved). Instead, they voluntarily dismissed their own lawsuits with prejudice (meaning they cannot be refiled), creating an artificial final judgment which allowed them to appeal denial for class certification again at Ninth Circuit Court, who accepted this time around. Microsoft then petitioned Supreme Court arguing that such tactics circumvent procedural rules and undermine fairness and efficiency in litigation process. In June 2017, Supreme Court sided with Microsoft ruling unanimously that federal courts do not have jurisdiction to hear appeals from voluntary dismissals like those engineered by plaintiffs here; hence preventing litigants from forcing immediate appellate review of adverse class-certification orders just because they declare intent to dismiss their claims upon denial.

In the dissenting opinion for Microsoft Corp. v. Baker, Justice Thomas argued that the plaintiffs had not truly been denied a final decision by the district court and thus should not have been able to appeal their case at this stage of litigation. He contended that voluntary dismissal does not equate to an adverse ruling, which is typically required for an appeal in federal courts. Instead, he believed it was a procedural tactic used by the plaintiffs to circumvent standard legal processes and prematurely bring their case before higher courts without having exhausted all options in lower ones first. This interpretation could potentially undermine judicial efficiency by encouraging similar tactics from other litigants seeking early appellate review.