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Q. What is a class action?
A. class action is a type of lawsuit in which the claims and rights of many people are decided in a single case. Specific plaintiffs are named in the lawsuit to assert the claims of the entire class so that everyone with the same claim or injury doesn't have to file their own separate lawsuit. Also, because they allow people whose damages are too small to warrant an individual lawsuit to try their cases together, class actions can often be the only practical way to stop illegal practices and recover ill-gotten gains. Class action suits have allowed individual people to stand up against the most powerful industries in the world and to hold them accountable for their actions.
Q. What types of cases can be brought as class actions?
A. The typical class action lawsuit involves a situation where a large group of people is injured by the same conduct. There are four primary types of class action lawsuits:
Securities Class Actions: Securities class actions are typically brought on behalf of a group of investors who have been injured as a result of a company's improper conduct, such as misstating earnings, concealing or misrepresenting risks, or otherwise engaging in activity detrimental to the company.
Product liability/Personal Injury Class Actions: Product liability and personal injury class action lawsuits are generally brought when a defective product, such as a drug with harmful side effects, or "mass accident", such as a toxic spill harms many people.
Consumer Class Actions: Consumer class actions are generally brought when consumers are injured by a company's systematic and illegal practices. Examples include illegal charges on bills, illegal penalties for late-payments, and failure to comply with consumer protection laws.
Employment Class Actions: Employment class action lawsuits are typically brought on behalf of employees of a large company for claims ranging from systematic workplace discrimination to unpaid overtime.
Q. How does a case become a class action?
A. class action is generally initiated by one or more people who feel that they, along with a group of other people, have been wronged. A lawyer then files suit on behalf of the individual(s) and the class. At the appropriate time, the lawyer files a motion asking the court to formally recognize the case as a class action. If the court grants that motion, the other people who were similarly wronged are notified of the class action and are given an opportunity to participate in the class action as a member of the "class."
Q. How many people are needed for a class action
A. Although it sometimes helps if several people are named as plaintiffs in the suit, a single person is generally enough to file a lawsuit so long as the attorney for the class has a good faith belief that a number of other people were injured in a similar way.
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