Meal/rest break claims are down significantly, while misclassifications and overtime cases remain strong, says the 7th Annual Litigation Trends Report from international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
Fulbright surveyed senior corporate counsel on their experiences and opinions regarding litigation. The survey had 403 participants, 275 whom were from the U.S.
Of the U.S. companies involved:
- 21% were under 100 million in revenues
- 31% had 100 million to 999 million in revenues
- 46 % had revenues of $1 billion or more
Participants were geographically spread with a substantial number (25%) from Texas where Fulbright has four offices.
In which area is there the most litigation pending in the U.S.?
Participants chose their top three from a list of 15 types:
|
Contracts |
53% |
|
Labor and employment |
49% |
|
Personal Injury |
27% |
(Percents add to more than 100 as participants could pick more than one type.)
In which area has there been the greatest increase in multi-plaintiff cases whether they be class, collective action, or significant multiple plaintiff actions?
|
Wage and hour |
46% |
|
Labor Union |
13% |
|
Age |
11% |
|
ERISA |
10% |
The survey also showed that meal/rest break claims are down significantly, while misclassifications and overtime cases remain strong. Overtime claims, in particular, are up strongly from last year among mid-sized and the largest companies, the survey indicated.
When asked where the greatest increase will be in labor and employment cases, (both individual and multi-plaintiff) over the next 12 months, respondents generally cite discrimination cases of all types, followed by wage and hour claims. Labor union matters rank third.
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Which three types of employment claims against your company create the most monetary exposure?
|
Wage and hour |
33% |
|
Age |
33% |
|
Race |
31% |
|
Harassment |
24% |
|
Sex |
23% |
(Percents add to more than 100 as participants could pick more than one type.)
As in past surveys, results are widely dispersed among the various types of claims, but the same groups as last year rank as the top five in creating the greatest monetary exposure.
Non-competition claims are cited by more than a quarter of financial services and retail/wholesale respondents.
Age discrimination claims remain the most widespread concern in the health care sector. Harassment claims are up sharply in that sector as the second most common concern, replacing retaliation claims.
Wage and hour cases are viewed as the biggest threat in the real estate, retail /wholesale and technology/communications sectors.
How many new class action cases?
A quarter of all respondents report at least one new class action in the U.S. over the past 12 months. Two percent of respondents have had 6-10 new class actions.
In which categories were class/group actions brought against your company in the past 12 months?
|
Labor and employment |
35% |
|
Consumer |
35% |
|
Securities |
19% |
|
Antitrust/competition |
10% |
|
Personal injury |
7% |
|
Other |
17% |
There were two expected exceptions—more than 6 in 10 financial services companies face new securities class/group actions and an equal percentage of retail/wholesale companies have new consumer actions.
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Does your company require arbitration of employment disputes in non-union settings?
According to the survey, 27% do require arbitration. The practice of requiring arbitration in this circumstance is up across almost all survey categories, but still less than a third in most of them.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, survey results on electronic discovery and discrimination cases, and an introduction to an extraordinary supervisor training system.