When the legislature enacted the former Beverly-Killea Limited Liability Company Act in 1994 it included a levy on LLCs equal to specified dollar amounts based on the total income from all sources reportable to this state for the taxable year.  In 2008, two Courts of Appeal found this provision (former Corporations Code Section 17942)  to be unconstitutional. Northwest Energetic Services, LLC v. California Franchise Tax Bd., 159 Cal.App.4th 841 (2008) and Ventas Finance I, LLC v. Franchise Tax Bd., 165 Cal.App.4th 1207 (2008).  By June of the following year, over 43,000 LLCs had filed claims for refunds.

In the midst of this sturm und drang, two LLCs filed class actions against the FTB.  Superior Court Curtis Karnow, however, denied the plaintiffs' motion for class certification on multiple other grounds, including lack of ascertainability, numerosity, predominance, and superiority.  Yesterday, the Court of Appeal reversed finding the case "eminently suitable for treatment on a classwide basis".  Franchise Tax Board Limited Liability Corporation Tax Refund Cases, 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 637.

The case caption is nothing less than bizarre.  The case involves limited liability companies, not limited liability corporations.