The bill followed the 2011 US Supreme Court ruling in AT&T Mobility v Concepcion, which upheld contract provisions requiring consumers to take legal action individually rather than as a group. Senate Bill 491 would have prohibited contracts of this sort.
Niall McCarthy, president of Consumer Attorneys of California told The Recorder newspaper: ‘This is a bad decision for consumers and a sweetheart deal for corporations that have engaged in unscrupulous behaviour.’

Litigation mess

It has also been suggested that the ruling will make it difficult for consumers to take legal action since individual representation is often economically impossible.
The bill was blocked by the Republican minority alongside Democrats Toni Atkins and Alyson Huber, who claimed that it would create a mess of litigation. The newspaper speculates that the proposal is unlikely to be revived.