In a trend that continues this year, class actions over wagesand other labor standards increased during 2006, outpacingemployment discrimination as a cause for such law suits, a studyhas found.

The analysis of class action litigation by Seyfarth Shaw lawfirm in Chicago reported that collective law suits continue as asource of significant financial exposure for employers for thisyear and well into the future.

The analysis also found that federal and state courts faced manynew theories and defenses as lawyers bringing employment classactions and collective action litigation in general have becomemore sophisticated in their methods.

The report analyzes all federal and state court substantive andprocedural rulings in class actions over the past 12 months.

Gerald L. Maatman Jr., general editor of the report and co-chairof the Complex Discrimination Litigation Practice Group of SeyfarthShaw, said the 302-page analysis provides a guide for corporatecounsel “to navigate through the increasingly litigious environmentof workplace law.”

Mr. Maatman, a partner with Seyfarth Shaw and a NationalUnderwriter columnist, said corporate decision-makers can use theanalysis to understand “key trends and leading rulings of the pastyear to strategically plan ahead.”

According to the report, settlements of class actions in 2006reflected a continuing trend from past years where significantmonetary payments were made in mega-class actions.

Settlements in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collectiveactions and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) classactions outpaced employment discrimination class action settlementsin terms of overall settlement values. Of particular note, thereport said, were a series of ERISA settlements stemming from themeltdown of Enron.

FLSA collective action litigation increased again in 2006 andfar outpaced employment discrimination class action filings.

While plaintiffs continued to achieve certification of wage andhour claims, employers also secured several significant victoriesin defeating conditional certification and obtainingdecertification of collective actions, the study found.

Of particular significance, Seyfarth Shaw said, were a series ofFLSA collective actions in the financial services industry, and bigimpact FLSA collective actions are expected to continue this trendin 2007.

The report said there were no class action rulings in 2006comparable with the certification order in Dukes, et al. v.Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which certified a Title VII genderdiscrimination claim challenging pay and promotions involving 1.5million class members.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard argumenton the appeal of the Dukes certification order on Aug. 8, 2005 butstill has not ruled.

According to the study, the Ninth Circuit's future ruling inDukes–and further appellate proceedings thereafter–will likely beone of the top class action developments in 2007 and beyond.

The report examines 407 class action rulings on acircuit-by-circuit and state-by-state basis.

Substantive areas examined include Title VII, Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission (EEOC) pattern or practice cases, the AgeDiscrimination in Employment Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act andthe Employment Retirement Income Security Act.

It includes state law rulings in employment law, wage and hour,and breach of contract cases and analyzes the leading cases,interpreting the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, Mr. Maatmansaid.

A CD-ROM of the report is available by e-mailing contactinformation to [email protected], the firm said.

Another report on litigation trends, issued by Fulbright &Jaworski LLP, found that more companies are facing a growing numberof lawsuits and that arbitration numbers also are growing.Companies with $1 billion or more in annual revenues spent anaverage of $31.5 million on their legal matters in the past year,according to the report.

It also concluded that one of the biggest areas for litigationactivity now is the United Kingdom. The percentage of U.S.companies with more than 50 lawsuits was more than double that oflast year. Among U.K. respondents, however, the number tripled, thestudy found.