In order to assist class action defense attorneys anticipate the types of cases 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 1 – 7, 2009, during which time an unusually high number of new class actions were filed — 61. Labor law class action lawsuits generally top the list, often by a wide margin. During this reporting period, only 19 of the new class actions involved labor law claims, representing a relatively low 31% of the total number of new class actions filed during the past week. By comparison, class actions alleging employment-related claims generally account for more than half of the total number of new class actions filed in California during any given week. As one might guess from the large number of class actions filed and the comparatively low number of labor law class actions filed, several other categories met the 10% threshold. There were 14 new class actions alleging violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL), which includes false advertising claims (23%). There were also 11 new class actions alleging violations of federal securities laws (18%), though almost all of them (9) were against Sequenom. And finally, there were 7 new class actions alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), representing 11% of the total number of new class actions filed during this reporting period.
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