Class Action

Surge In Class Action Complaints Filed In California State And Federal Courts Led By ADA Class Actions But Labor Law Actions Continue To Top List Of New Class Action Lawsuits Filed In Past Week

By Michael J. Hassen

In order to assist class action defense attorneys anticipate the types of class actions against which they will have to defend in California, we provide weekly, unofficial summaries of the legal categories for new class action lawsuits filed in the state and federal courts located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, San Mateo, Oakland/Alameda and Orange County areas. We include only those categories that include 10% or more of the class action filings during the preceding week. This report covers the period from May 15 - 21, 2009, during which time an unusually high number of new class actions were filed -- 59. Generally, labor law class action lawsuits account for more than half of the new class actions filed and top the list by a substantial margin. During this reporting period, only 18 of the new class actions involved labor law claims, representing a surprisingly low 31% of the total number of new class actions filed during the past week. Only two other categories met the 10% threshold. There were 13 new class actions alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), accounting for 22% of the new class actions filed, and there were 12 new class actions alleging violations of California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL), which includes false advertising claims, accounting for 20% of the new class actions filed.

Full post as published by Class Action Defense Blog on May 23, 2009 (boomark / email).