The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 President’s Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
    • Media
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 President’s Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
    • Media
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Media
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
      • Summit Sponsors
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Master Class 5.0 Trial Academy 2021
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

Growing Wave of Class Actions in Consumer Fraud and Labor Issues

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Larry Bodine

Graph - Class Action Matters and Annual Spending Breakdown by TypeAcross industries, companies spent $2 billion defending class action lawsuits in 2014, slightly less than the $2.1 billion they spent in 2013, according to the 2015 Carlton Fields Jorden Burt Class Action Survey. This year, spending is expected to return to 2013 levels.

Consumer fraud and labor issues

Fifty-three percent of all class action matters, and 47 percent of class action spending, fall within the practice areas of consumer fraud and labor and employment. Consumer fraud accounts for 30 percent of class action matters and 24 percent of class action spending, while labor and employment accounts for 23 percent of class action matters, and 23 percent of class action spending. These practice areas are followed by securities, product liability, insurance, antitrust, data privacy, and intellectual property.

Data privacy and insurance class actions

Insurance and data privacy matters emerged as significant areas in 2014, making up 6 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively, of class actions handled. At the same time, the percentage of labor and employment, product liability, securities, and antitrust class actions dropped.

  • Consumer fraud remains the largest component of class action portfolios
  • As other class action sectors cool off, insurance and data privacy emerge

Graph - Breakdown of Class Action Matters by Type

Next wave of class actions in Data Privacy

While data privacy matters currently represent a small portion of class actions, when corporate counsel were asked what area they saw as the next wave, they most often identified data privacy. And, while class certification has been a stumbling block for plaintiffs in this area, the following factors suggest data security matters are nonetheless poised for growth:

  • increasing hacker activity;
  • more frequent internal protocol and security lapses; and
  • ongoing consumer and business sensitivity regarding data sharing and use.

Corporate counsel also expect a wave of consumer fraud class actions, even though these are already prevalent.

Graph - Next Wave of Class Action Suits

 Class actions becoming more frequent

More than one in three companies, up significantly from one in four last year, report managing multiple class actions on a regular basis. Experienced companies work with their law firms to develop formal, established class action protocols, including early case assessment, sophisticated analysis of potential financial exposure, and proactive tracking of major decisions impacting class actions.

Among the 54 percent of companies currently managing class actions, 35 percent report handling one or more open lawsuits on an ongoing basis. Nine percent say class actions arise every year or two, and 10 percent say they are rare, occurring only every few years. Forty-six percent of companies report no current class action lawsuits

  • More than one in three companies report managing multiple class actionlawsuitson a regular basis
    • A year ago, only 28 percent of corporate counsel dealt with class actions routinely—an increase of nearly 25 percent

Graph - Class Action Experience

To see the rest of the report, visit 2015 Carlton Fields Jorden Burt Class Action Survey

Posted in Blog, Class Actions

Comments are closed.

News Categories

Subscribe to Blog and VFJ via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog, the Voice for Justice and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Read about other Top Jury Verdicts

Sterling Bancorp Agrees to $12.5 Million Settlement with Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System

Sterling Bancorp Agrees to $12.5 Million Settlement with Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System

Sterling Bancorp Inc. agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the $3.1 billion Oklahoma Po[Read More...]
Boy Scouts of America and The Hartford Enter $650 Million Settlement for Sex Abuse Claims

Boy Scouts of America and The Hartford Enter $650 Million Settlement for Sex Abuse Claims

After years of legal dispute, The Hartford has entered into a settlement agreement and release with the Boy Scouts [Read More...]
Playland Operator Reaches $12 Million Bankruptcy Settlement

Playland Operator Reaches $12 Million Bankruptcy Settlement

The Westchester County Board of Legislators last week approved a bankruptcy court settlement with Standard Amusements regardi[Read More...]
Santa Fe Agrees To a $36M Settlement With the Firms Responsible For Constructing Its Water Project

Santa Fe Agrees To a $36M Settlement With the Firms Responsible For Constructing Its Water Project

The board of the Santa Fe city and county’s joint Buckman Direct Diversion agreed to a $36 million settlement last wee[Read More...]
Health Net Repaid $97.2M To Settle an Investigation Confirming It Over-Billed the U.S. For Veterans Care

Health Net Repaid $97.2M To Settle an Investigation Confirming It Over-Billed the U.S. For Veterans Care

A Rancho Cordova health insurance company has repaid $97.2 million to settle an investigation into inflated claims submitted [Read More...]

#LegalNews

@@TheNTLtop100

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.