At Callahan & Blaine, our civil litigation practice extends beyond the resolution of disputes between our client and one or several opponents. Our Orange County class action lawyers also litigate on behalf of consumers, employees, small businesses or any other identifiable group whose legal claims have enough in common to support a motion for certification as a class. This tactic allows claimants to achieve justice in situations where individual lawsuits can’t be economically justified, but where common legal and factual issues can justify handling the case on behalf of a large group in a single case under state or federal class action rules.
In 2008, our lawyers settled a class action for past and future employment benefits to newspaper carriers in Orange County for $38 million.
This settlement is the largest class action settlement in the history of Orange County. Our ability to demonstrate convincingly in court that the carriers were employees eligible for benefits forced a settlement after two months of trial.
In addition to the suit undertaken on behalf of Orange County newspaper carriers, our firm has handled these significant class action cases:
Ayala v. Antelope Valley Press, Inc. — In this precedent-setting case, we successfully represented workers who were wrongfully misclassified as independent contractors. The case supports the argument that class certification is warranted in any type of misclassification case (such as those involving exemptions) where there is common evidence of a defendant’s policies and practices, even if their impact is not uniform.
Vicken Massoyan and Maggie Antaramian v. HL Leasing, Inc. — In this case, we successfully defended a widow who was being sued by 800 California individuals for her alleged involvement in a $114 million Ponzi scheme.
A class action lawsuit is a type of litigation in which a large number of parties who have suffered a similar injury join to pursue results collectively. It is frequently used in cases involving alleged wage and hour law violations, defective products, consumer fraud, and other types of civil litigation. Usually, the parties certified as a class are plaintiffs, though defendant class action suits are possible. Class action suits can be pursued in federal and California state courts. To proceed at the federal level, a court must first certify a suit as a class action, after being satisfied that it complies with the requirements set out in Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. To learn more about class action lawsuits, speak with a knowledgeable Orange County class action lawyer at Callahan & Blaine.
If you suspect that you’re not the only one with particular grounds for legal action, contact an experienced Orange County business lawyer at Callahan & Blaine to learn about your litigation options for either a freestanding lawsuit or a class action. With more than 20 trial attorneys aggregating over 500 years of litigation experience, our law firm has the depth and range of experience necessary to identify opportunities for class certification and to manage the complex logistics of class action litigation.
Examples of the kinds of cases that might be suitable for class certification include:
Resolving a dispute through class action litigation provides benefits to both the plaintiff(s) and the defendant(s):
Find out more about our experience with class action lawsuits in the state and federal courts of Southern California. Contact Callahan & Blaine in Santa Ana to discuss your case with a world-class Orange County class action lawyer.
Callahan & Blaine has continually impressed me as one of the strongest and most competent law firms in the County. For the past 25 years, Callahan & Blaine has been an integral part of Orange County’s legal community. I am pleased to strongly recommend Callahan & Blaine as litigation counsel and would be happy to provide you with any additional information, if needed.
– Tom Daly