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What is a Class Action Lawsuit?

What is a Class Action Lawsuit?A lawsuit with many plaintiffs is known as a class action lawsuit. In this type of case, multiple people accuse the defendant of wrongdoing. The complaints of the plaintiffs are similar. The courts allow all the plaintiffs to come together to litigate their issues.

Accomplished attorneys at SBEMP (Slovak, Baron, Empey, Murphy & Pinkney) law firm provides professional legal advice and services to clients in Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Inland Empire, Orange County, San Diego, New Jersey, New York, and surrounding locations.

Why do Class Action Cases Exist?

To conserve resources, courts permit litigants to join forces and bring their cases as one class action. Instead of every plaintiff hiring individual lawyers to bring an action, the plaintiffs can all work with one lawyer or a team of lawyers who understand the issues on behalf of everyone.

In a class action case, individual attorneys for each plaintiff do not have to spend time understanding the specifics of the case. There is no duplicity of work, and it allows all the plaintiffs to work with a single legal team to save cumulative time and effort.

It is also helpful for the defendants to group cases into a class action. The defendant will only have to respond to a single set of lawsuits instead of multiple lawsuits (which can run into the thousands) all over the country and at different times.

The production of one set of discovery and appearing for one set of court dates can help the defendant conserve resources. They can also evaluate all cases at one time and make decisions on accepting or extending a settlement offer.

 

Many Plaintiffs Necessary

There must be many plaintiffs for a case to be determined a class action case. A majority of class action cases have dozens of plaintiffs or more. There must be a sufficient number of plaintiffs with similar claims to make it feasible to combine these cases in order to resolve them.

 

Plaintiffs must have Common Issues

The plaintiffs must have common issues for a class action case. For instance, in case the plaintiffs have all had similar complications following the use of a specific medication, they may be an ideal group for class action. While their situations may vary slightly, the underlying problems are similar.

 

A Class Action must Address Class Members’ Needs

Class certification is inappropriate for a case unless it can properly represent the interests of all the plaintiffs. Primarily, the circumstances should be fair for all plaintiffs. Furthermore, the courts evaluate if certifying the class will facilitate the convenient administration of justice.

 

Who Practices Class Action Law?

Class action cases are civil cases, and more specifically, personal injury cases. Lawyers focusing on class action cases practice tort law. A majority of lawyers do not practice only class action law. In case a lawyer takes up class action cases, they likely work on such cases as a part of a broader civil litigation practice.

Most class action cases are handled by big law practices as they require substantial resources. These practices have the resources and personnel to manage significant amounts of discovery and client outreach.

 

The committed team of lawyers at the SBEMP law firm serve clients from Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Inland Empire, Orange County, San Diego, New Jersey, New York, and nearby locations for a range of legal practice areas.
For more information or to request a consultation please contact the law offices of 
SBEMP (Slovak, Baron, Empey, Murphy & Pinkney) by clicking here. 

SBEMP LLP is a full service law firm with attorney offices in Palm Springs (Palm Desert, Inland Empire, Rancho Mirage), CA; Costa Mesa (Orange County), CA; San Diego, CA; New Jersey, NJ; and New York, NY.

DISCLAIMER: This blog post does not constitute legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is formed by reading it. This blog post may be considered ATTORNEY ADVERTISING in some states. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Additional facts or future developments may affect subjects contained within this blog post. Before acting or relying upon any information within this newsletter, seek the advice of an attorney

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