Carlton Fields recently released its sixth annual Class Action
Survey, which is based on detailed interviews with general counsel
and senior legal officers at 373 companies operating in more than
25 industries. Those individuals shared their thoughts and best
practices on class action exposure and management. Highlights from
this year's survey include data on the types of class actions
companies faced in 2016 and the likely next wave of class
action.
Class-Actions By Type
Companies faced different volumes of class actions in different
practice areas than in past years. Overall, companies' class
action spending across industries increased for the second
consecutive year, reversing a downward trend that occurred between
2011 and 2014. In 2016, labor and employment cases accounted for
the largest category of class actions, representing 37.7 percent of
all class actions, which was a notable increase from 2015, when the
percentage was just 24.1. The increase was due, in
