Despite federal class action reform in 2005, the madness continues and for some reason the American public is not outraged. Thousands of class actions have been filed in California over the past few years and loyal customers continue to get pennies and the trial lawyers walk away with millions of dollars in fees. It is surprising that people have not figured out that the whole concept is a scam.

Lorie Zapf, our San Diego Regional Director has a great letter to the editor in the San Diego Union-Tribune that highlights what a scam it is. Ironically, San Diego is the former hometown of Bill Lerach, a sleazy trial lawyer who made a fortune scamming the class action system and now sits in jail. Still, little or no reform is occurring.  And with this economy, just watch the class actions begin to rev up.

There is one bright spot on the horizon. AB 298 by Assemblyman Van Tran in the CA Legislature is being heard next week in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. It might not solve the whole problem, but would start to restore fairness by giving defendants the opportunity to appeal a class action certification – a right currently given only to plaintiffs. Watch that legislation and you will see if the legislature is serious about class action reform or are they more in line with the trial lawyers agenda.