Will the Door to Mass Claims Close?

Contributor: Christopher J. Banks

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A series of recent California Supreme Court decisions has led to an explosion of PAGA claims in state and federal courts

A recent NDCA court decision left the door open to future mass claims under the state’s Private Attorneys General Act, despite a June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that some hoped would spell the end of this burgeoning area of litigation, says Crowell & Moring partner Christopher Banks.

PAGA, enacted in 2004, allows workers to act as state labor code enforcers, in a sense “deputizing” them to bring claims on behalf of themselves along with other employees. The law imposes penalties of up to $100 for each initial violation and up to $200 for each subsequent violation, and plaintiffs routinely ask for tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in penal­ties in PAGA cases. Defendants may also have to cover plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees.

Read the complete article in the Litigation Forecast 2023. 

Index: Litigation Forecast 2023

• Cover Story – Class Actions—the Evolution Continues — April Ross and Jennifer Romano
• European Union – Evolving Landscape for Representative Actions — Werner Eyskens
• United Kingdom – Class Actions: Getting Traction — Laurence Winston
• Jurisdictional Analysis – Rightsizing the Federal Bench: More Judges Handling Fewer Cases — Justin Kingsolver
• Middle East/North Africa – A Pro-Arbitration Approach Changes the Dynamic — Randa Adra
• District of Columbia – Slow Flow in D.C. Courts — Toni Michelle Jackson
• Southern District of New York – Consumer Class Actions Expand into New Sectors — Sarah Gilbert
• Northern District of Illinois – Biometric Litigation Looms Large —Jason Stiehl
• Northern District of California – Will the Door to Mass Claims Close? —Christopher Banks
• Central District of California – A Faster Docket with Patent and Privacy Cases — Emily Kuwahara
• Patent Litigation Venues – Can an Infringement Claim Magnet Be Deactivated? — Yuezhong Feng

Litigation Forecast Archive:
2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018

Regulatory Forecast Archive: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017