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You or a loved one may have received a notice that you are potentially a member of a class in a class action lawsuit. This notice often gives you details about your rights and necessary procedures to follow. Unfortunately, they are often lengthy and full of legal terms that can be difficult to understand. Many people don’t know what should be done, and often do nothing.

Class action lawsuits are generally filed when a large group of people, the class, are injured as a result of some action or lack of action by a corporation or company. Class actions are generally filed to aid in the litigation and/or settlement of the matter involving a large group of litigants. Class action lawsuits often involve hundreds or thousands of members. A recent example of a similar type lawsuit involves the DePuy recall of its hip replacement system. In this litigation there is what is referred to as “multi-district” litigation.

Class Action Plaintiff

A class action lawsuit is generally filed by one or more persons representing the entire class of injured persons. A class action will not be allowed, or certified, if the representatives do not have similar claims, or a commonality of the issues, with a very large number of other injured.

The representative must be in the class and should have similar, or representative, claims typical of all the members in the class. The class plaintiff as the representative of the entire class is charged with protecting the best interests of all members of the class and can be removed by the court at any point that this is not being done.

Class Action Defendant

A class action lawsuit is usually filed against a large corporation or company. However, it may involve several defendants if necessary. Companies sued in class action lawsuits are often manufacturers of drugs and other products. The claims can be based on faulty manufacture or failure to warn. The DePuy lawsuit mentioned above includes a claim that the manufacturer failed to warn patients and doctors of the potential failure and side effects of the hip replacement implants.

Class Action Outcome

The representative of the class, or plaintiff, is responsible for making all the decisions, with advice from counsel, that any plaintiff in any other lawsuit would make. All class members are bound by those decisions. If the plaintiff wins, the members will share in any proceeds for damages; if the defendant wins, the members recover nothing and have no means for any other recovery against the defendant.

Potential class members may opt out of the class action and not participate. If that is done and the class action succeeds or settles, the persons opting out are prohibited from sharing in any proceeds or damage awards. People opting out, however, have the option of filing individual lawsuits. For instance, if there was a national class action for the hip recall and if you opted out of the DePuy lawsuit and millions of dollars are awarded you receive nothing. You can’t change your mind.

Seeking advice from an attorney is strongly recommended if you believe you may be eligible for any muli-district litigation such as the DePuy lawsuit.