A class action lawsuit is one that involves a grouping of plaintiffs with similar legal claims, usually involving a commercial or business related matter, and allows for multiple claims from several persons in various jurisdictions to have their claims heard.

When an individual is wronged by a defendant, often times the compensation will not justify the expenses of a single lawsuit. Class action lawsuits allow people to join together to argue a claim as one plaintiff, in order to hold the wrongdoer accountable for the harm caused. Whereas, if filed individually, the defendant could get away with an offense simply because they have harmed countless numbers of people, each for a small amount of money.

There are nine stages of class action suits, which include: filing, response, discovery, certification request, certification opposed, class action certification, notification, settlement phase, pay out and no longer pending. The time and expense of a lawsuit encourages the filing of a single claim representing all of the people involved, rather than thousands of individual cases, which also encourages more responsible behavior on the part of the defendant.

Four legal requirements must be met in order for the court to classify the claim as a class action suit. They are:

• Numerosity- a significant number of people who are part of the claim
• Commonality- an issue of law or fact that is similar and common between all of the class members
• Typicality- the claims of the named plaintiffs who filed the class action must be typical of the interests of the class members
• Adequacy- the named plaintiffs must fairly and adequately represent the interests of the class members

There are several advantages to filing a class action. The major benefit of a class action is that it brings together smaller claims, which in most instances would not have been litigated individually. Class actions are also able to lower the cost of litigation expenses, therefore enabling plaintiffs to receive adequate compensation, while also holding the defendants accountable for their wrongdoings. Federal class actions also have the significant advantage of being able to handle claims against a related defendant from any number of states.

The complexity of filing a class action and the certain pre-certification steps that must be taken can sometimes be overwhelming for the plaintiff. Therefore, if you, or someone you know, would like assistance with a class action claim, or would simply like more information about class actions, please contact us.