Introduction

Introduction

To understand the impact of class action filings on the court system and litigants in this important area of civil law, the California Administrative Office of the Court‘s (AOC) Office of Court Research (OCR) initiated this Study of California Class Action Litigation in collaboration with the AOC‘s Office of the General Counsel and the University of California Hastings College of the Law (Hastings). This project was designed to establish baseline data on the prevalence and nature of class action lawsuits filed in California from 2000 to 2006.

To collect the type of detailed data not normally available through case-management systems and overcome the incompatibility of these systems across courts, the project relied primarily on case-file review of a large, random sample of class action cases across the state. In consultation with researchers from the Federal Judicial Center (FJC) and Hastings Professor Richard Marcus, the Office of Court Research developed a standardized data-collection instrument to capture essential data on class action cases. Student interns from Hastings used the data-collection instrument to review case files, collect relevant data, and report this information back to the OCR. Between June 2006 and September 2007, student interns conducted case-file reviews of over 1,500 class action cases. The OCR transferred, cleaned, and organized the case information into a searchable database for analysis and reporting.1

Specific information collected on both open and closed cases included The number of class action cases filed; The types of cases and trends in filing over time; The size of the class and class definition; The basis of the claims alleged; The internal case events, including motions for certification; The duration of these cases; The type disposition; The outcome data, including verdict and settlement information; and The fees awarded to attorneys.

Using this data, the Office of Court Research will release a series of reports focusing on different aspects of California class action litigation based on analyses of the case database. This first installment lays out foundational information about class action filings, dispositions, case types, and duration. The second and third reports will focus on class certification analyses and examination of case outcome data, respectively. The Office of Court research hopes to also produce a fourth report, in collaboration with researchers at the FJC, which will follow class-action cases that are transferred to Federal court.

1 The full study methodology will be set forth in the final, comprehensive report.