A California class action lawsuit search runs through three separate systems, because the state has no single database that covers everything. For a specific state court case, you go to the superior court website in the county where it was filed. For federal cases, you use PACER or the free CourtListener archive. And if you’re trying to find open settlements you can actually claim money from, free aggregator sites are faster than any court portal.
Which tool you reach for depends on what you already know and what you’re trying to do.
Searching State Court Records by County
California’s court system does not offer a statewide search engine for individual case records. Case information is maintained by each of the state’s 58 county superior courts, and searches must be conducted through each court’s own online portal.
The Judicial Branch of California provides a court locator tool at courts.ca.gov to help identify the correct court and its website. Most courts offer some form of online case search under an “Online Services” section, but the scope varies considerably by county. None of the county portals offer a dedicated “class action” filter. Class actions fall under general civil cases, so you search the civil index by party name or case number.
The four largest county courts give a sense of what’s typical:
- Los Angeles Superior Court offers a searchable index covering unlimited civil cases from 1983 to the present, limited civil cases from 1991, and small claims from 1992. Guest users pay $4.75 per search; registered users pay on a sliding scale starting at $1.00 per search for the first ten searches in a month.
- San Francisco Superior Court provides a civil case query covering cases filed from 1987 to the present, searchable by case number or case name. A separate calendar search covers court dates up to 120 days out.
- Orange County Superior Court maintains separate portals for civil, criminal, family, probate, and small claims cases, with a name search application at namesearch.occourts.org.
- San Diego Superior Court offers a public case index searchable by party name, case number, or DA number. Civil documents for cases initiated on or after January 1, 2008, can be purchased online through the Register of Actions portal.
If the information you need isn’t available online, the Judicial Branch advises visiting the courthouse to use public computers or speaking with a court clerk directly. At the appellate level, docket information for the Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court is available free through the state’s appellate case information website.
Searching Federal Court Records
Many significant class actions end up in federal court, particularly those involving nationwide classes or claims exceeding $5 million. Federal cases filed in California’s four district courts — Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern — can be searched through PACER, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system run by the federal judiciary.
PACER requires a registered account and charges $0.10 per page, capped at $3.00 per document. Fees are waived entirely if you accrue $30 or less in a calendar quarter. The system is available around the clock and offers two search paths: searching a specific district court directly for real-time results, or using the PACER Case Locator to run a nationwide search when you don’t know where a case was filed. Court opinions are available free through PACER and the U.S. Government Publishing Office.
A free alternative is the RECAP Archive, hosted by the nonprofit Free Law Project on its CourtListener platform. RECAP contains millions of federal court documents originally pulled from PACER through browser extensions that automatically upload filings when PACER users access them. You can search by docket number, party name, attorney, nature of suit, and presiding judge. Coverage isn’t as complete as PACER itself, but it gives you free PDF downloads for many filings and is a sensible first stop before spending money.
Finding Open Settlements You Can Claim
If you’re less interested in court dockets and more interested in settlements you might be eligible to claim money from, several free platforms aggregate open settlements in a more accessible format than any court portal.
ClassAction.org maintains a daily-updated, searchable index of proposed class action lawsuits filed in federal courts, organized into categories like data and privacy, defective products, finance, and workplace issues. The site has dedicated pages for open settlements and open lawsuits, a free weekly newsletter, and guides on how to join or start a class action.
Top Class Actions has operated since 2008 as both a legal news source and a settlement search tool. It lists open settlements with prominent claim deadlines and eligibility details, tracks data breaches and product recalls, and covers investigations in their early stages before a lawsuit is filed. The site explicitly notes it isn’t a settlement administrator or law firm and directs users to the official administrator to actually submit claims.
Consumer Action, a nonprofit, maintains a smaller, curated database. You can filter listings by status — open to claims, pending, or closed — and use a deadline calendar to track upcoming claim windows. As of mid-2026, the database lists 2 cases open to claims, 26 pending, and 618 closed. New cases are summarized in the organization’s monthly newsletter.
Newer platforms have entered this space. ClaimDepot tracks settlements, investigations, and data breach news, and maintains a section for “no proof” settlements that don’t require receipts or purchase documentation. Catch, a mobile app, lets users browse and file claims for active settlements directly from their phones, showing payout structures and deadlines for each listing.
Examples of Currently Active California Settlements
The mix of open settlements shifts constantly, but a few current examples show the range you’re likely to encounter:
- The RealPage rent-fixing litigation is a federal multidistrict case in which renters allege RealPage and dozens of property management companies used algorithmic software to coordinate rental pricing and inflate rents. In November 2025, a federal court granted preliminary approval for 26 settlements totaling $141.8 million, though the claims process has not yet opened. Separately, California Attorney General Rob Bonta secured a $7 million settlement from Greystar Management Services as part of a nine-state coalition.
- A Hyundai and Kia airbag settlement totals $62.1 million regarding defective airbag control units, with a claim deadline of March 29, 2027.
- A Shimano crankset settlement covers certain Hollowtech II bicycle cranksets manufactured before 2019, offering extended warranties and reimbursement, with a claim deadline of August 4, 2026.
The California Attorney General’s office has also been active in privacy enforcement under the California Consumer Privacy Act. Recent settlements include $2.75 million from Disney for failing to honor opt-out requests across its streaming platforms, $1.55 million from Healthline Media for sharing sensitive health data with advertisers, and $1.4 million from mobile game company Jam City for failing to provide in-app opt-out mechanisms.
Verify Before You File
Aggregator sites are free for consumers and earn revenue through advertising or attorney referral fees. None of them actually process claims or manage settlements. They aggregate information and point you to the official settlement administrator’s website to file. Always confirm eligibility requirements, documentation needed, and the exact claim deadline through that official site before submitting anything.
Claim windows are firm. Missing a deadline typically means forfeiting any payout regardless of whether you qualified. Newsletter subscriptions from the aggregator sites are a straightforward way to track upcoming dates.
A Note on PAGA
When searching California class actions, you’ll frequently see references to PAGA, the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004. PAGA allows individual employees to file lawsuits recovering civil penalties on behalf of the state for Labor Code violations. It’s often described as a “pseudo-class action” because it lets one worker sue on behalf of many, but it operates under different rules: PAGA claims don’t require class certification, and aggrieved employees in a PAGA settlement cannot opt out. If you’re searching for a workplace case, it may be a PAGA action rather than a traditional class action, and the two show up in the same court dockets.
Which Search to Start With
If you have a case name or number and know it was filed in a California county, go straight to that superior court’s online portal. If the case involves a national company, a large class, or claims over $5 million, try PACER or CourtListener first, because it likely landed in or was removed to federal court. And if you’re not looking for a specific case at all but want to find settlements you can claim, skip the court portals and start with Top Class Actions, ClassAction.org, or Consumer Action’s database.