Duane Morris Class Action Review - 2024: A Comprehensive Analysis of Class Action Litigation

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Duane Morris LLP has released its Class Action Review 2024, an analysis of more than 1,300 class action decisions in the past year, examining all categories of class action litigation. This publication provides a comprehensive analysis of class action litigation trends and significant rulings and settlements from 2023 that will enable readers to make informed decisions when dealing with complex litigation risks in 2024.

“This flagship firm publication analyzes class action trends, decisions and settlements in all areas impacting corporate America and provides insights as to what companies and corporate counsel can expect in 2024, in terms of filings by the plaintiffs’ class action bar and court decisions on key Rule 23 issues,” said Duane Morris Chairman and CEO Matthew A. Taylor.

“Looking at the class action settlement numbers from the past year, it’s clear that last year’s unprecedented level of settlements was not a one-off phenomenon,” said Duane Morris partner Gerald L. Maatman Jr., co-author of the review and chair of the firm’s workplace class action division. “We have entered a period of increased risk and heightened stakes in the valuation of class actions. The massive numbers will only work to further motivate the plaintiff’s bar in 2024 to increase filings and assert even more aggressive settlement positions.”

Among the 10 overarching trends in the class action area in 2023, the Duane Morris Class Action Review highlights four key takeaways for companies in 2024, including:

1. Class Action Settlement Numbers Continue To Spike At Unprecedented Levels—In 2023, settlement numbers exceeded expectations for the second year in a row. Reminiscent of the Big Tobacco settlements nearly two decades ago, 2022 and 2023 marked the most extensive set of billion-dollar class action settlements in the history of the American court system. On an aggregate basis, class actions and government enforcement lawsuits garnered more than $50 billion in settlements in 2023, bringing the combined total for 2022 and 2023 to $113 billion. Corporations should expect such numbers to incentivize the plaintiffs’ class action bar to be equally if not more aggressive with their case filings and settlement positions in 2024.
   
   
2. Data Breach Class Actions Continued Their Growth And Inconsistent Outcomes—The volume of data breach class actions exploded in 2023 and their unique challenges, including issues of standing and uninjured class members, continued to vex the courts, leading to inconsistent outcomes. Plaintiffs bringing data breach class actions, however, continued to face hurdles associated with their ability to demonstrate an injury from the alleged data breach and, if they survived dismissal, with convincing courts to grant class certification. Indeed, less than 25% of the class certification decisions issued in data breach cases in 2023 came out in favor of plaintiffs.
   
   
3. Generative AI Began Transforming Class Action Litigation—In 2023, we saw the tip of the iceberg relative to the ways that generative AI is poised to transform class action litigation. While the debate continues as to their effectiveness, generative AI is potentially enabling the plaintiffs’ class action bar to do “more with less” like never before, which inevitably will lead to more lawsuits that can be handled by fewer lawyers in less time and a potential surge of class action lawsuits on the horizon.
   
   
4. Government Enforcement Lawsuit Filings Reflected A Resurgence—In 2023, the EEOC’s litigation enforcement activity showed that its previous slowdown in filing activity is well in the rearview mirror, as the total number of lawsuits filed by the EEOC increased from 97 in 2022 to a whopping total of 144 in FY 2023. Overall, the 2023 lawsuit filing data confirms that aggressive EEOC enforcement activity is back on the menu and the litigation filing machine is back in full throttle, with no signs of slowing down. Now that the EEOC has a majority of Democratic-appointed commissioners firmly in place, along with a significantly increased proposed budget, corporate America can expect to see a resurgence of enforcement activity in 2024.