Legal Definitions - class action

A class action is a legal procedure that allows one or more people to sue on behalf of a larger group of people who have all been harmed in the same way by the same person or company. This is useful when there are too many people to join the lawsuit as individual plaintiffs. The court can manage the case as one lawsuit instead of many separate ones.

For example, if a company sells a product that is defective and causes harm to many people, those people can join together in a class action lawsuit against the company. This saves time and money for everyone involved.

To proceed as a class action, the court must find that:

• The number of people in the class makes it impractical to join them all in one lawsuit
• The claims of the class members have common questions of law or fact
• The claims of the class representatives are typical of the claims of the rest of the class
• The class representatives will adequately protect the interests of the entire class

In addition, the court must find that one of the following is true:

• Separate lawsuits would create the risk of inconsistent rulings or would impair the ability of class members to protect their interests
• The defendant has acted in a way that affects the entire class, making injunctive or declaratory relief appropriate
• The common questions of law or fact predominate over individual questions, and a class action is the best way to resolve the dispute

Overall, class actions are a way for people who have been harmed in the same way to join together and seek justice as a group, rather than as individuals.