Wal-Mart attracts superlatives. It is the biggest private employer in the world's biggest economy, with 4,300 stores and 1.4m employees in America pulling in sales of $258 billion in the 2009-10 financial year. It may soon acquire a new distinction: being sued by the biggest-ever group of people. This spring the Supreme Court will consider whether 500,0001.5m women who have worked at Wal-Mart since 1998 can be certified as a class in a sex-discrimination lawsuit. It is one of several cases which American businesses are watching with a mixture of fear and hope.
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