On December 21, 2010, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in Pecover v. Electronic Arts, Inc., No. 08-cv-02820-VRW, Dkt. #198 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 21, 2010), certified a nationwide class of consumers, who purchased Madden NFL, NCAA or Arena Football since January 1, 2005.  The suit alleges that that EA’s exclusive license agreements violated the Cartwright Act.  The case is important for two distinct reasons.  First, the Court held that California law applied to all claims regardless of where the consumers purchased the products because of EA’s nexus to California.  This is a tremendous development because it allows for a nationwide class based on a single state law and therefore eliminates conflict between different state laws, which is often a barrier to certification of nationwide class actions.  Second, the Court held that the consumers provided a model that would show that they suffered common impact and therefore satisfied the predominance requirement for class certification — which can be a difficult element to satisfy.  The decision appears here.  ea class cert