Rule 3.760.Application

Rule 3.760 is the gateway rule for the class-action management chapter — it says which cases the chapter reaches and for how long. The chapter’s rules apply to every class action, whether brought under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act or under the general class-action statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 382. That coverage isn’t limited to cases where a class has already been certified; it runs from the outset and continues until the court finds the action isn’t maintainable as a class action or revokes a certification it granted earlier.

The rule then builds in flexibility. The court, on its own motion or on the motion of any named party, can grant relief from complying with the chapter’s rules in a case where that makes sense. Not every class action needs every procedural requirement the chapter imposes, and subdivision (b) gives the court room to excuse compliance rather than forcing every case through the same mold.

Because rule 3.760 sets the chapter’s scope, it frames everything that follows in the chapter — including the complaint formatting requirements in rule 3.761, which apply only to the class actions this rule brings within the chapter’s reach.