Q2 Update: New England and First Circuit Class Action Tracker

We are pleased to present our updates to the New England and First Circuit Class Action Tracker, which focuses on the filings and decisions in state and federal courts within the boundaries of the First Circuit in New England.

We identified some notable trends in Q2 that suggest:

1. If the same level of class action filings observed in the first half of 2023 continues through the next two quarters, this year will match – if not exceed – 2019 as a high-water mark. This may be the beginning of a larger trend of sustained, increased filing levels or we may be observing a temporary increase related to the end of the COVID emergency, when class action filing levels were lower than historical rates.
2. The increased level of federal class action filings is driven by activity in the District of Massachusetts — no other federal district court in the First Circuit is seeing a similar upward trend. In fact, class action filings have been stable or lower than prior years in the other district courts.
3. In New England state courts, Massachusetts has seen the overwhelming share of increased class action filing activity, but there are also modest increases in Maine and New Hampshire state courts.
4. The class action boom we are seeing in this region remains driven by data breach and privacy class actions against health care and technology industry defendants. These cases are seeing unprecedented filing levels, with the second quarter of 2023 outpacing the first quarter. If this signals a sustained trend, we are going to see historic levels of class action filings overall, but especially for data breach and privacy class claims focused on those industries.

If you have any questions about the tracker, or trends you would like to see covered in future installments, please contact Melanie Conroy. To learn more about Pierce Atwood’s class action defense practice, please contact Gavin McCarthy.