To assist class action defense attorneys anticipate the types of lawsuits 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 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 time frame. This report covers the time period from March 25 – 31, 2011, during which time 77 new class actions were filed in these courts. The California Supreme Court decision dramatically expanding the apparent reach of the Song-Beverly Act is the cause of the abnormally high number of class actions filed these past few weeks. During this reporting period, 27 new labor law class actions filed, representing a relatively low 35% of the total number of new class actions filed, but good enough to retain the top spot among weekly class action filings. Three other categories managed to break the 10% threshold: class actions alleging violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL), which includes false advertising claims, with 13 new filings (17% of the total number of new class actions filed), class actions alleging Song-Beverly Act violations with 11 new filings (14% of the total number of new class actions filed), and class actions alleging violations of federal securities laws with 8 new filings (10% of the total number of new class actions filed).
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