Caldwell Law Office - Class Acction Law

A class action is a lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of people who have been wronged by the same party, in a similiar way, or as a result of the same or similar conduct. One person is permitted to bring a class action when the issues or questions in dispute are common to all members of that Class(group), and the group is so numerous that it would be impractical for every individual member to initiate a separate lawsuit.

A person may act as the representative plaintiff in a class action if he or she has been harmed or injured by a particular person, corporation or other entity in violation of law, and if he or she has claims that are typical of other class members, has no conflicts of interest with other class members and has chosen competent and experienced class action counsel to bring the lawsuit. A person who brings a class action on behalf of others has certain duties and responsibilities to the Class, which include having a general knowledge and understanding of the claims and a general familiarity with the allegations of the complaint, maintaining contact with class counsel regarding the status of the case, and being available to provide information, affidavits, deposition testimony, or to appear at trial, if necessary.

David v. Goliath Class actions have many advantages over an individual action and advance several public policy goals. Perhaps most importantly, class actions provide a means for groups of people injured by the wrongdoing, fraud or other unlawful conduct of powerful, multi-million dollar corporations to join forces to challenge the wrongful conduct where, standing alone, a single individual may be powerless to seek compensation for the harm.

Class Actions are a way that the "little guy" can become powerful enough to take on the "big guy." For example, each person may have suffered only limited damages and the cost of pursuing individual lawsuits may far exceed the value of each individual claim. The total damages to the Class as a whole though, may be quite large. By combining the claims, a class action vastly increases the potential liability of the wrongdoer, and thus provides an otherwise missing deterrent to corporate wrongdoing. Additionally, because the damages sought in class actions are often substantial, it is more likely that an attorney will be willing to prosecute the action on a contingent basis, enabling the Class representative to bring the action without having to bear the often high costs of litigation. Class actions are available under appropriate circumstances in virtually every area of the law where a controversy arises.