Oregon is fast becoming one of the most consequential jurisdictions in class action litigation. A convergence of newly enacted state laws, aggressive local judicial developments, and the powerful structural incentives created by Oregon’s statutory damages framework has made the Beaver State a magnet for plaintiffs’ attorneys targeting consumer-facing businesses.
Class action complaints in federal court have more than doubled since 2022. To date, 2025 is the high-water mark, with 130 new class actions filed in that year alone (a 155% increase from 2016), and 2026 looks to easily surpass that figure by year-end. And out-of-state firms are signing complaints at a growing rate. From 2016 to 2023, out-of-state plaintiffs’ firms grew from 6% of complaints to 21%. That trend has been supercharged recently, with 64% of all federal class action complaints in 2026 coming from out-of-state law firms.
Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, PACER and CM/ECF, via Lex Machina. Analysis by Ballard Spahr.…