You may hear from time to time of a company or other entity that has caused misfortune on a large group. The types of class action lawsuits that can be brought include:
A class action lawsuit is generally initiated by a plaintiff who is called the named or lead plaintiff. This is the person who felt it necessary to bring about the class action lawsuit to benefit those who may have been affected, and to help get justice against a legal entity that was negligent.
There are many reasons why attorneys agree to initiate class action lawsuits, but two reasons are most common. The first is that there are so many plaintiffs that it would not be practical to pursue individual cases against the same defendant. In these instances, the courts would insist on a class action suit that may or may not cover plaintiffs from states throughout the country.
The other primary reason that class action suits are used is to make sure that each defendant gets some sort of compensation for their injuries. In many cases, class action lawsuits result in small awards to the plaintiffs. But when a plaintiff enters into a class action suit, they are guaranteed to win some award if the class is successful. If each plaintiff tried to sue the defendant on their own, the financial awards would be paid on a first come, first served basis until the funds of the defendant ran out.
Plaintiffs often find that using a class action lawsuit helps to significantly lower their legal bills, and that helps to make these lawsuits attractive. If you intend on recommending a class action suit for your particular injury or event, then it is important to find an attorney experienced in bringing class action suits to court. There is a great deal of paperwork and marketing involved in getting a class action lawsuit going, and it takes an experienced attorney to get the job done right.
There are different ways that an attorney can seek to distribute the compensation to a class if that class wins its lawsuit. The attorney may set up a flat payment that would go to each plaintiff, or the attorney may evenly divide the award among all of the plaintiffs. In some cases, the attorney may petition the court to be able to review each case individually and divide up the compensation based on the individual need of each plaintiff.
In the world of personal injury law, the class action lawsuit is a weapon that large groups can use to get justice against a single negligent party. People who have been defrauded out of money because of a bad investment or people who were given a medication that was not properly tested can use the class action lawsuit to get compensation for their injuries without worrying about the large fees that often go with these types of lawsuits.
If you are considering a class action lawsuit, then contact an experienced attorney to get the process started. You could be doing something to help others, and bring attention to a negligent party before they are able to hurt anyone else.