How to File a Class Action Lawsuit

What is a Class Action?

When a broad group of people are harmed by the actions of a group, organization, or company, they can band together and sue collectively. This is known as a class action lawsuit.

There are plenty of famous examples of these types of lawsuits. The entity being sued does not necessarily have to be private. Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision which desegregated schools, was a class action suit of black parents against the local board of education.

A more recent major class-action was settled in 2019. Wells Fargo unduly forced its customers to take out car insurance when they applied for car loans. This forced hundreds of thousands of customers to face financial troubles. Wells Fargo settled and paid out almost $400 million.

Perhaps the largest class action is the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. 46 state Attorney Generals banded together and collectively sued the major players of the tobacco industry. The settlement reached in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

In this article we’ll go over some of the common questions regarding class-action suits. If you have any questions contact our offices at 843-459-8835. To be successful in pursuing a class action or joining one you need an attorney with experience handling high stakes cases. Learn more about Peter McCoy’s 20+ years of experience by clicking here.



How many people are needed for a Class Action lawsuit?

Judges have certain discretion when it comes to the ‘numerosity’ of a class-action. What does this mean? Generally, when there are more than 40 plaintiffs a judge will certify the numerosity of a suit. If there was less than that then they have discretion in hearing the case. If the case is large, say with more than 100 plaintiffs then it can be heard in federal court.

All members of the class, that’s to say all the plaintiffs, need to have suffered very similar damages to be able to join the suit. In other words, the financial or physical damages that are being claimed as part of the lawsuit must have uniformity throughout the class members.

Class members, the plaintiffs of a suit, are represented in their interests not just by their legal counsel but also by their class representative. A class representative is a plaintiff who’s damages are typical of the class and who’s able to properly defend the class’ best interests.



What is Wire Fraud?

Wire Fraud, along with Mail Fraud, are what federal prosecutors most use when trying to land convictions. Why? Wire and Mail Fraud can be punished severely. A person could get up to 30 years if convicted.

Wire Fraud, like its counterpart, requires a scheme to defraud and many of the same provisions. But, it needs an interstate use of wire transmissions like email, phone, text, or fax.

How do you join a Class Action Lawsuit?

To make a long-answer short, you do not need to do anything to join this type of suit. Each case is unique but in a typical case, after a judge has certified that the case can move forward, a potential class member will be contacted. This means that if the case is approved to proceed, then people who might have been affected by the potential wrongdoings of an organization will be contacted. This might be through mail, email, calls, etc. This notice will explain the dimensions of the case, the relief which is being sought, and what you would need to do if you want to join.

How long do class actions take?

Class action lawsuits are civil matters. They can usually be resolved in one of two ways: There is a settlement between the plaintiffs and the defendant(s) or the court hands down a judgment after a trial. Going to trial is usually not how class action suits are resolved.

These suits are not speedy. There is no definitive way to say how long a suit will go on. Even when the evidence is stacked against the defendant(s) it's hard to say if a suit will go to trial and be dragged out. Anywhere between ten months and over two years is a conservative estimate of how long these cases will take. Still, there’s benefits to cases being initiated as class actions rather than individual suits. We’ll get to that in another article.