Monday's Daily Journal had another article (subscription) on Pioneer Electronics (USA), Inc. v. Superior Court, ___ Cal.4th ___ (Jan. 25, 2007). The first paragraph of the (rather oddly-titled) article reads:
Has the California Supreme Court changed the balance between the right to discovery and privacy rights in class actions? The answer is probably "no," but reasonable minds may differ. The court has now spoken on the issue, but did it really change anything? And what about class actions that are not about consumer products, such as employment and health care actions? A very good argument could be made that the court's opinion does not address privacy issues in those areas.
The article goes on to argue that Pioneer Electronics should have no impact on non-consumer cases.
I really have a hard time understanding Mr. Bosserman’s analysis with regard to the assertion that Pioneer Electronics “is most probably limited to purely commercial disputes.” I actually think there are effective ways to argue the opposite, assuming that the plaintiff’s counsel seeks only the names and addresses from the employer. I actually am in the process of writing a paper on this for a class at Hastings. Any suggestions/inputs from the plaintiffs’ bar would be greatly appreciated.
-Kelly Y. Chen, 3L
Posted by: Kelly Y. Chen | Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 03:22 PM