Marcarelli

The issue is whether a class action plaintiff may dismiss

the action without court approval. More specifically, the issue is the validity—as applied to this case—of rule 470 of the Class Action Manual of the Los Angeles Superior Court, which directs the county clerk not to process requests for dismissal of class actions without such approval.

We hold that a class action, once filed, may not be dismissed without court approval and that rule 470 necessarily follows from the Supreme Court’s holding in La Sala v. American Sav. & Loan Assn., 5 Cal.3d 864, 871 [ 97 Cal.Rptr. 849 , 489 P.2d 1113 ], that “[w]hen a plaintiff sues on behalf of a class, he assumes a fiduciary obligation to the members of the class, surrendering any right to compromise the group action in return for an individual gain.”

Facts

In October 1974, plaintiffs Robert and Joyce Marcarelli and Jack and Della Mae Cole filed an amended class action complaint against defendant Leisure Industries, Inc., about a half-dozen corporate and nearly 2 dozen individual defendants, alleging—in 15 counts and 38 pages—a massive real estate fraud involving recreational property. Plaintiffs asked for restitution,…