The Class Action Lawsuit and Its Benefits
In the context of the law of civil injury, a class action lawsuit refers to a lawsuit involving a large number of people with similar injuries who sue one or several people, companies, corporations and other entities. It could be due to effects caused to them by products that are defective, or even due to fraudulent lending schemes. The group of individuals, therefore, alleges that the defendant, due the harms caused by his/her actions, is responsible for that particular adverse effect suffered by the plaintiffs. This type of lawsuit is evidently very advantageous as it gives the people opportunity of working together for the achievement of a common objective.
For a case to qualify as a class action lawsuit, there are various qualifications that it must have. The process is sometimes referred to as, the CAN’T test. The essential requirements includes;
Similar Claims.
For a lawsuit to be regarded or to legitimate as a class action, the factor of common claims must be fulfilled. This implies that there must be a common complaint driving the entire class (plaintiffs). For example, this kind of lawsuit may emerge when a line production company refuses to pay all of its employees their overtime pay, due to their overtime hours. Equally, it could also be because of a defective product that causes adverse effects to many people who might have used it. If the people suffered similar effects, the factor of commonality would ultimately be satisfied.
Quantity
Again, the claims need to be of the same thought. The group must also be large enough thus making filing of individual suits impractical. In this case, the class action is viewed as an efficient tool for solving that particular matter, rather than bringing in multiple and smaller suits covering the same subject.
Adequacy.
During this process, other plaintiffs will undertake the task of being representatives. Such individuals must work toward ensuring that the interests of all the interests of all the plaintiffs are sufficiently guarded. Due to this, any included individual is best served by doing so.
Commonality.
Lastly, the claims by the plaintiffs must be typical in nature. This means that the claims should be similar, thereby allowing the court to handle and resolve questions of the law that are typical. In this manner, it should be unnecessary for the court to handle each claim individually.
The benefits of a class action lawsuit:
Cost friendly.
The cost of handling any court case is always not that quite affordable. However, because a class action lawsuit always involves many people, the required amounts is always split equally amongst the plaintiffs. It, therefore, becomes easy for each to afford. However, most of the class action lawsuits are always presided over on a contingency basis, implying that the plaintiffs are not allowed to pay any legal fee until they win the case.
Increased probability of financial recovery.
It is also important to note that class action lawsuits always results to the plaintiffs being awarded the money. It also ensures that the losses are equally spread amongst the plaintiffs. In this way, they able to compensate for the losses incurred by them.
Increased efficiency.
It is also to note that class action also boosts the judicial system in one way or another. The case is handled and determined by a single judge, and so the issue of contradicting verdicts is not experienced. It also takes a single claim much less time to solve as compared to smaller similar claims heard at a different period.
A greater degree of cohesion.
Class action lawsuit brings together individuals with primarily similar claims to present their case in a common way. They come together with the aim of achieving one same goal.
The attraction of a more superior legal talent.
Handling a class action lawsuit is no easy matter. It requires a top-notch lawyer. This is mainly because the case involves handling of numerous pages of files, the high cost of an expert witness and some years involved in the development of the case. Therefore, it calls for a highly qualified and experienced personnel to handle the matter. This evidently gives the plaintiffs an excellent opportunity of being represented by lawyers of such prowess, whom they may not manage to afford if they were left to pursue the case individually.
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