When different persons combine their lawsuits because the facts and the defendant are so similar and where a single litigant's case is heard by the court as representative of all (together, called a "class").
This is designed to save Court time and to allow one judge to hear a representative case(s) once and to make one decision on the representative case which is binding on all the plaintiffs grouped in the class.
Class action lawsuits would typically occur after a plane or train accident where all the victims would sue the transportation company together in a class action suit; or in the event of a defective product purchased by many, such as an automobile as in the plot of the 1991 movie entitled Class Action (pictured, left).
For example, in Pennsylvania (Rules of Procedure), the process is known as class action and where, generally, the merger of all the individual causes occurs if:
- the class is so numerous that adding all members as plaintiffs is impracticable;
- there are questions of law or facty common to the class;
- the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class;
- the representative parties will fairly and adequately assert and protect the interests of the class; and
- a class action provides a fair and efficient method for adjudication of the controversy.
Also known as class proceedings as in Class Proceedings Act of British Columbia at qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/C/96050_01.htm, the Class Proceedings Act of Ontario at canlii.com/on/laws/sta/1992c.6/20070813/whole.html.
These are typically very lucrative jobs for lawyers as their take an be exponentially larger than with a single plaintiff/client.