Class Action Spending Around 2.1 Billion Dollar Level, With Increase In Number Of Class Actions Being Handled By In-House Top Counsel And With Rise In High-Risk Class Actions.
Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, LLP recently has come out with its 2015 Class Action Survey, the highlights of which can be found here.
Top legal counsel at almost 350 top companies doing business in the U.S. reported that they manage 5 class actions on average a year, with more than 1 in 3 handling multiple class actions on a routine basis—up from only handling one in the prior year.
In 2014, the top companies expended $2 billion out of $20.2 billion in legal expenses on U.S. action cases, a slight decrease from $2.1 billion for 2013—but with 2014 expected to get back to 2013 levels ($2.09 billion). Over one-half of the class actions involved consumer fraud/employment issues, although there has been an increase in data privacy and insurance actions.
Three years ago, only 4.5% of the class action cases were viewed to be high-risk or bet-the-company cases, but that has now increased to 16.4%.