COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:

Our own Assemblyman Van Tran is helping to balance the scales of justice by introducing Assembly Bill 298, which would allow a defendant to appeal a class-action certification before the lawsuit can proceed. Currently, only the plaintiff may appeal, which severely tilts class action law in favor of the plaintiffs.

These days, a class-action law can move forward on just about anything. In fact, Apple just settled a class-action lawsuit for $22.5 million because early iPod Nano models were prone to scratches. On the lawsuit website, Apple stated that its only reason for the settlement was to avoid burdensome and costly litigation. Had Apple been able to appeal the certification of the lawsuit, it may have been dismissed entirely.

Currently, defendants’ only recourse is to appeal the judge’s ruling after they have lost. Federal law and many states have already righted this injustice, but not California.

In California, class-action lawsuits remain a significant problem. According to the Civil Justice Assn. of California, more than 3,425 class-action lawsuits were filed from 2004 through summer 2007. This number meant that nearly five new class-action lawsuits were filed each day. Out of the six major counties in the state, more than 11% were filed in Orange County alone.

The current process encourages defendants to settle a lawsuit, rather than proceed to trial, even if they have done no wrong, because trials are time-consuming and costly and juries are so unpredictable. But should this bill pass, according to Tran, “California will send out a signal to companies looking to invest here that the state is an attractive place to do business.”

It will also help protect businesses from frivolous lawsuits without their having to pay millions to essentially make the suit go away.

This bill will be fought vigorously by plaintiffs’ attorneys. All they have to do in California’s current climate is pick a business to sue, regardless of whether any wrongdoing has occurred, and wait for the millions of dollars in settlement fees. The abuse of the civil justice system is a continuing problem. California ranked 44th in a recent Harris Poll compiling perceptions of courts, judges, juries, processes and the treatment of tort and contract litigation and class action lawsuits within each state. Orange County was recently named a place to watch in the American Tort Reform Assn.’s annual Judicial Hellhole report, citing class action lawsuits against Botox in particular.

We must encourage our legislators to pass bills that will stimulate economic recovery, keep businesses open and prices low. AB 298 is a bill that will accomplish all these things.

Maryann Maloney Marino is regional director of California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.