Wage and Hour Class Actions - By the numbers

I did some analysis of the wage and hour class actions filed in California in the month of March 2008. Basically, I looked at federal and state court filing summaries throughout California. I don't promise that this information is airtight or 100% accurate. Rather, I am trying to show the big picture. So here it is.
Number of Wage & Hour Class Actions Filed Or Removed In March 2008 - 101

Industries Primarily Targeted
Food (e.g., coffee shops, franchises, wineries) (14 wage/hour actions)
Financial Services (e.g., Prudential, JP Morgan, Countrywide) (9 wage/hour actions)
Entertainment (e.g., Casinos, Clubs, Theaters) - 6 wage/hour actions)

Busiest Plaintiffs' counsel -
George Kingsley of Kingsley & Kingsley. In March 2008, he filed four wage and hour class cases and had one more removed. The Defendants is his cases include Golden State Utility Company, Zumiez, Sbarro, Schering Corp., and Shore House Cafe.

Top Five Busiest Courts for wage and hour class actions (March 2008) -
LA Superior Court (39 wage/hour class cases);
Federal District Court, Central District (22 wage/hour class cases);
San Diego Superior (11 wage/hour class cases);
Alameda Superior (7 wage/hour class cases);
Orange County Superior (5 wage/hour class cases).

Most interesting March 2008 case -
Bissett v. Sutter Health, et. al (and I mean et al. - lots and lots of hospitals - throughout California).

The case apparently alleges that nurses have not been paid overtime or given meal breaks because of "intentional understaffing." I would guess that one purpose of this case is to change patient/nurse staffing ratios. I would also guess (and only guess) that the California Nurses Association is somehow involved.

Plaintiffs counsel is Robert Cantore of Gilbert Sackman. The firm's website (which prominently displays their representation of unions) is here.