Law360, New York ( June 7, 2016, 1:19 PM EDT) -- This was expected to be a blockbuster year for the development of class action law. The U.S. Supreme Court had accepted certiorari in several cases involving highly controversial issues, and decisions in those cases were expected to have a broad impact on class actions in the federal courts. For various reasons, the anticipated groundbreaking decisions did not fully materialize. In one case, the petitioner took the biggest issue off the table. In another, the court chose to set out only general principles, leaving it to the lower courts to figure out how to apply them. Two other cases confirmed that principles that appeared to be largely settled were, indeed, settled. And the parties in a fifth case reached a settlement before oral argument....