RAND Study Finds Class Actions Against Insurers Rose Prior to Recent Reforms and Many Cases Occurred Outside Public View

The number of class action lawsuits filed against insurance companies in the United States increased sharply during the 1990s prior to the passage of the federal Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), according to a RAND Corporation report. About 90 percent of the lawsuits were filed in state courts and two-thirds were either disposed of in favor of the defendants or voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs, according to the report from the RAND Institute for Civil Justice.