Class Action

New Employment-Related Class Action Filings Remain Below Normal But Labor Law Class Actions Maintain Grip On Top Spot Of New Class Action Lawsuits Filed In California State And Federal Courts

By Michael J. Hassen

To assist class action defense attorneys anticipate the types of cases against which they may have to defend in California courts, we provide weekly, unofficial summaries of the legal categories for new class action lawsuits filed in California state and federal courts in the 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 relevant timeframe. This report covers the time period from April 2 - 8, 2010, during which time 53 new class actions were filed in these California state and federal courts. Generally labor law class actions top the list, and often account for more than half of the new class action filings in any particular week. Last week, however, only 17 new labor law class actions were filed (representing a paltry 38% of the total number of new class actions filed during that reporting period), and this week only 19 new labor law class actions were filed (representing only 36% of the total number of class actions filed during this reporting period). The only other categories to break the 10% threshold involved class actions alleging violations of California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL), which includes false advertising claims, with 14 new filings (representing 26% of the total number of new class actions filed), and class actions alleging antitrust violations, with 6 new filings (11% of the total number of new class actions filed).

Full post as published by Class Action Defense Blog on April 10, 2010 (boomark / email).