Who can file a class action lawsuit? Legal Information

A class action lawsuit lets many different people to bring identical claims to court to have it be decided in a single lawsuit. Class action lawsuits are designed to reduce the number of identical lawsuits and allows the legal system to resolve identical claims more efficiently.

The Beginning of a Class Action Lawsuit
In order to file a class action lawsuit there has to be a significant number of people who can make up the "class." If there isn't a sizeable number of people then it may not be practical to file a class action lawsuit, and you would want your attorney to file an individual claim.

You don't have to find everyone who is eligible to participate in a class action lawsuit before the class action is filed with the courts. You can have your attorney file the lawsuit with you being the representative Plaintiff.

Your attorney should explain to you that the court must approve the lawsuit as being a class action matter either during the normal course of events in a lawsuit, or at the time of settlement.

Things to Consider
Before you and your attorney file a class action lawsuit, you should be able to determine if the class can easily be defined, is the number of people with the same claim significant, and do common legal and factual issues exist.

You and your attorney will also need to look at whether the legal and factual issues are predominate over the individual claim, and is a class action lawsuit the best way to handle this case. Not all cases are appropriate for a class action lawsuit, and the court will look at many factors before determining to give your case a class action designation.

What Class Actions Do
Class action lawsuits can help you, your loved one and many other people who have been injured by another party, such as a manufacturer, developer, lender or other financial institution, or an insurance company.

For example the victims of the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme in theory could band together and file a class action suit against Madoff and his companies.

Another example is if a mortgage company is improperly charging interest and each of their mortgage customers paid more interest than they should have. These customers can band together and file a class action lawsuit against the mortgage company.

Conclusion
Before contemplating a class action lawsuit, you should seek out the advice of a lawyer who specializes in handling class actions. They are huge cases that take special skill to litigate and manage.



To learn more about your legal entitlements, it is important to speak with a skilled Sacramento medical malpractice attorney, Sacramento auto accident lawyers, and skilled Sacramento personal injury attorneys for more information.