It's not clear-cut, no, and I am not a lawyer, but mandatory authority (vs. persuasive authority) in California basically means that the plaintiff's lawyers cou

It's not clear-cut, no, and I am not a lawyer, but mandatory authority (vs. persuasive authority) in California basically means that the plaintiff's lawyers could actually file all the cases at the same time. And then get a judge to view that as a favorable move, not asshole at all. (To be honest, I think any hostile move such as a lawsuit is an asshole move, so I think I'm agreeing with you?) They wouldn't need to claim the cases were grouped together, just that the inevitable appeal would be more likely to be found binding if the cases were all still being adjudicated. Or something like that. No court case is a slam-dunk.