A "class action" is a lawsuit brought by one or
more plaintiffs on behalf of a large group of others who have a common interest. In other words if someone
decides to bring suit against a company and feels that there are many other people that were similarly
affected by the companies actions then they can petition the court to create a class action that would
include all of those affected who agreed to join the class. Normally the court has jurisdiction over whether
to create the class or not and some requirements must be met. The class must be either so large or dispersed
that actual joinder of all the plaintiffs would be impossible; there must be questions of law and fact common
to all members, and these must outweigh any individual questions; and the named parties must adequately represent
the interests of their class. Notification of the class action must also be made via newspaper publication,
broadcast or mail to all who may want to join the class action. All members of the class are bound by the
final court decision though any who did not join or opted out of the action are not bound.
Class action lawsuits are useful to the individual who would probably not otherwise be able to afford a lawsuit
against a large corporation. In the securities field for example, one investor who purchased a companies stock based
upon that companies financial statements only to learn later that the company fraudulently released inaccurate
financial statements might have a difficult time supporting a long drawn out lawsuit with the company. However, if
the investor can show that many others were similarly affected he can petition the court to certify his action a class
action. Since far more peoploe would be involved in the class action against the company they would have much more
leverage and their chance of success would be raised significantly.
Many well known class action lawsuits have occured over the last few years. Asbestos related illnesses such as
mesothelioma have resulted in successful class action lawsuits as have class actions against the tobacco companies and
the makers of Fen-Phen. Many more class action lawsuits are underway or in the process of being formed. The makers of
Vioxx, Celebrex, Ephedra, Accutane, Bextra and many others face class action lawsuits. Even Apple faces a class action
over the iPod Nano mp3 player that many users claim Apple sold knowing that it was defective and scratched far more
easily than it should under normal wear and tear.
While class action lawsuits can be abused by lawyers looking for large fees or portions of settlements they are still
just about the only effective way for the "little guy" to compete on an even playing field with large companies that
have far more resources than the average person. Click on the links above to get specific information on different
class actions that exist.
|
