A class action lawsuit is a legal proceeding in which a lawsuit is brought against an individual or company by one or more plaintiffs on behalf of a larger group of people.
That large group is known as the class, hence the name of a class action lawsuit.
Any proceeds from a class action lawsuit, after legal fees have been paid, are shared among all of the class’s members.
A class action lawsuit can be resolved in a court of law or via an out-of-court settlement.
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Keep reading and you will find out more about how a class action suit works – including some examples!
How does a class action lawsuit work?
The people who are represented in a class action lawsuit could be employees, patients, customers, investors, or another group of people.
All of the individuals represented in a class action lawsuit make similar legal claims against one or more defendants. A lawyer will represent the class.
In the U.S., in order for a class action to be valid, it must meet the criteria set out in the legal rule that is called Rule 23.
One of the most important elements of the criteria involves the class needing to be large enough to make individual claims outside of the class action impractical or inequitable.
And a court order that certifies a class action suit must specify the class, the class claims, the issues, or the defenses.
There are lots of different class action lawsuits:
- litigation
- consumer product liability cases
- civil rights proceedings
3 Examples of Class Action Lawsuits
To get a better idea of the types of class action lawsuits that can arise, let’s take a look at three high-profile class action suits.
1. The Enron Lawsuit
Enron, as you may know, was a utility and energy-trading company based in Texas. The company perpetrated one of the largest accounting frauds in history.
Executives at Enron employed accounting practices that falsely inflated the revenues of the company. Those practices helped to make Enron the seventh-largest corporation in the U.S.
The company soon attained its downfall when the fraud came to light. Enron filed for bankruptcy in 2001. Enron’s shareholders filed a class action lawsuit, which resulted in a settlement of $7.2 billion.
2. The Elmiron Lawsuit
Elmiron is a prescription drug that’s used to treat the chronic bladder condition interstitial cystitis, which is also known as painful bladder syndrome.
And speaking of bladders, you might be interested in learning how to keep your bladder healthy as you get older.
The Elmiron drug is manufactured by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is a subsidiary of the leading pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson.
Sadly, some people who took Elmiron developed serious vision damage, including conditions like macular degeneration and maculopathy.
That was due to the active ingredient in the drug known as pentosan polysulfate sodium. The ingredient is well known for being linked to pigmentary maculopathy.
All of the Elmiron lawsuits filed in Federal Court have now merged into a single multidistrict litigation.
There are currently 1,774 pending lawsuits and the first bellwether trial is scheduled for January 2023.
If you’ve taken Elmiron yourself and it has caused damage to your vision, you should contact the Elmiron lawsuit lawyers at Dolman Law Group for a free and confidential consultation. You may qualify as one of the classes and be able to pursue compensation.
3. The Toyota Lawsuit
Very recently, a $1 billion class action lawsuit has been launched in Australia against Toyota over vehicle emissions. The lawsuit could be the biggest class action lawsuit ever seen in Australia.
The dispute centers around diesel defeat devices. It’s claimed that Toyota knowingly changed their vehicles’ emissions control systems in order to pass emissions tests, which resulted in unlawfully high levels of nitrogen oxide. Up to 500,000 vehicles could be part of the lawsuit.
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