What is a Class Action?

A class action is a legal device that allows one person to sue as the plaintiff on behalf of all persons likely to have experienced the same injury. Class actions can be brought against corporations, banking and financial institutions, manufacturers and even utility companies. Any company that could potentially mistreat many customers in the same way can be subject to class action litigation. Examples may include:

•	A bank that overcharges late fees or interest.
•	A manufacturer of a defective product where thousands of consumers purchase or use the same defective product.
•	A telephone company that overcharges thousands of customers pursuant to the same policy.
•	An employer that discriminates against employees based on experience, age, sex or race.
•	A drug manufacturer that produces a medication that has dangerous side effects.
•	Any corporation that sells stock or other securities after misrepresenting its products or business prospects.

What are the benefits of a class action?

A class action can be extremely useful in cases where the claims of any individual may not warrant prosecution; however when added together, those injuries are significant. It ensures that a defendant who knowingly or unknowingly causes widespread harm on a small scale against each individual plaintiff must compensate each individual for their injuries. Class treatment of claims imposes the costs of wrongdoing on the wrongdoer, with the hope of deterring future wrongdoing.

Class actions prevent the court system from being clogged by allowing similar claims of many individuals to be tried in one single action.

Aggregation of the complaints can increase the efficiency of the legal process, and lower the costs of litigation. In cases with common questions of law and fact, aggregation of claims into a class action may avoid the necessity of repeating days of the same witnesses, exhibits and issues from trial to trial.

A class action avoids the situation where different court rulings could create inconsistent standards of conduct for the defendant to follow.


Can any case be filed as a class action?

No. A class action is appropriate only where the common issues of the class outweigh the issues of unique individual members. When United Law Group considers cases our attorneys review the information carefully to evaluate the merits of filing a class action suit. Once it is filed, the first action the courts take is to review the information to assess whether the case fulfills all the requirements of a class action. This is known as the "certification" of the class.


Who pays the attorneys' fees and legal expenses?

Law firms can choose to collect money up front to cover a portion of the legal fees and expenses or advance the entire amount. Attorneys that represent a group in a class action lawsuit recover attorneys' fees and expenses from the money paid by the defendant at the successful conclusion of the case. Regardless of the structure, the court must approve the firm's fees as reasonable in light of the benefit obtained for the class.


Are all class members forced to participate in the class action?

Generally, No. Typically, once the court certifies the case as a class action, members of the defined class have the opportunity to "opt out" and pursue individual actions against the defendant. Class members that do not choose to opt out are legally bound to the results of the case and automatically share in any recovery obtained for the class. There can be exceptions to this general rule. Those can be explained in further detail based on the particulars of the case.



Take action today!

Contact our offices today to schedule a free consultation and find out if you qualify for one of our existing or pending cases. If you would like to expedite the process, please fill out our class action intake form.

Call 1-800-680-5717 for a free consultation with an experienced lawyer.

Contact United Law Group today for more information.