In 1985, the United States Supreme Court held in Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 427 U.S. 797, that state courts can, within certain due process constraints, adjudicate claims of non-resident class members. This ruling opened the door for state courts to entertain multi-state and nationwide class actions that had traditionally been filed in federal forums. While some state courts proved more hospitable than others to multi-state class actions, the following decade witnessed a significant increase in the number of multi-state class actions being adjudicated in the state courts.

To understand the differences in each state's laws, The Law of Class Action: Fifty-State Survey 2014-2015 contains an up-to-date analysis of class action law in each of the fifty states. It is a valuable tool for both in-house and outside counsels who confront the prospect of litigating class actions in state forums with which they may have little or no experience and must make informed recommendations on removal. Succinct summaries are prepared by litigators from each of the respective states and address changes in rules and statutes as well as significant case law.

These summaries are extremely useful in understanding state court rules essential to practitioners and parties alike.