Class actions are a means for numerous plaintiffs with similar claims to bring a single lawsuit. Both California state and federal courts are magnets for class action lawsuits.

At the state level, California does not provide state judges with enough tools and guidelines to stop frivolous class action lawsuit from going forward. At the federal level, California federal courts are also more lax than other jurisdictions.

Statistics are telling. California accounts for more than 50 percent of all federal class actions filed nationally, according to an article in Law360 by Covington & Burling. Even more class actions are filed in California state court, but those figures are not tracked.

Another study by Bryan Cave on data breach class actions shows California is the top-choice litigation forum regardless of the location of defendant. The Northern District of California and the Central District of California saw 28% of all class action data breach litigation during 2017 and 39% of all class action data breach litigation during 2018.

California needs class action reform at both the state and federal level to reign in class action abuses.

Sources:

https://www.cov.com/-/media/files/corporate/publications/2019/01/a_2019_field_guide_to_calif_class_actions.pdf

https://www.bclplaw.com/en-US/insights/2019-data-breach-litigation-report.html