On May 1, 2020, plaintiff Hyde-Edwards Salon & Spa moved to create a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California combining almost a dozen class actions over defendant JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A.’s handling of loans available through the federal Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) under the CARES Act. Another motion by plaintiff Cyber Defense Group seeks to transfer the cases to the U.S. District Court, Central District of California for consolidation and handling. These plaintiffs are behind two proposed class actions that allege JP Morgan Chase wrongly prioritized or favored PPP loan applications from larger borrowers in violation of the Small Business Administration guidelines and the PPP itself.

On May 29, 2020, Chase filed its opposition to the two motions, arguing consolidation is not more efficient as the cases are a mix of dissimilar theories, claims, and parties, and any efficiencies are outweighed by the burdens.