Will the Door to Mass Claims Close?
Publication | 01.10.23
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.
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Publication | 06.24.26
How to Reduce the Risk of Commercial Disputes Through Better Contracts
As a disputes lawyer, I come across many disputes that were entirely avoidable, and it is fair to say that commercial disputes are among the most costly and disruptive events a business can face. They consume management time, damage commercial relationships, generate significant legal costs, and — in severe cases — threaten the viability of an enterprise altogether. Yet a significant proportion of disputes that find their way into arbitration tribunals, courtrooms, or mediation suites are not the product of bad faith or genuinely irreconcilable differences. They are, at their root, the product of poorly drafted contracts: documents that failed to anticipate risk, allocate responsibility clearly, or provide workable mechanisms for resolving problems when they arise.
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