Defendants and their lawyers -- and more and more judges -- aren't the only ones getting their fill of California's unpredictable, ungoverned surge of class action litigation.
Here's what plaintiffs' lawyer Brian S. Kabateck* said in part of a "Roundable" panel article on Consumer Class Actions published in the November California Lawyer magazine:
Recently there have been an awful lot of folks -- who don't understand class actions -- filing class actions and becoming overnight class action specialists. It's very disconcerting.
When I started doing class action cases more than a decade ago, judges were very respectful of the cases. They'd look at them very seriously. Now I'm seeing more and more judges raising their eyebrows, looking at cases as if, "Oh, another class action." You've got to almost start behind the line explaining to the court, "No, this is really a justifiable class action."
I've seen class actions being brought claiming medical injury, which we know you can't bring. It demonstrates to me a lack of knowledge and understanding. We have to be vigilant about these kinds of bad class actions. Half a dozen years ago, you'd hardly see a seminar in class actions. Today, I can't pick up my mail without getting a brochure or some sort of e-mail about educational seminars on class action cases.
You can link to the entire roundtable exchange of defense and plaintiffs' attorneys by clicking here.
*Kabetek is a partner at Kabateck Brown Kellner in Los Angeles.