Class action
One lawsuit brought on behalf of everyone harmed the same way.
A class action is a single lawsuit brought by one or a few people on behalf of a much larger group who were affected by the same practice. Instead of thousands of people each filing their own case over the same $40 charge, one case covers all of them.
The mechanism exists because of arithmetic. A $40 loss is real, but no one can afford a lawyer to recover $40. Aggregate the same $40 across a million customers and the claim becomes large enough to litigate - and large enough for the company to notice.
General information, not legal advice. Definitions vary by jurisdiction.
Related terms
- Class representative - The named person who stands in for the whole class.
- Class certification - The court ruling that lets one case speak for everyone.
- Arbitration clause - Contract language sending disputes to a private forum instead of court.
- Class-action waiver - A term saying you may only bring a claim for yourself, never as a group.
- Unconscionability - A contract term so one-sided a court refuses to enforce it.
- Contract of adhesion - A take-it-or-leave-it contract with no room to negotiate.
- Assent - Whether you actually agreed, and how the company proved it.
- Negative option billing - You are charged unless you act to stop it.