If someone’s negligence has left you out of pocket, with injuries or health issues, you may be able to use a lawsuit to help you to secure the right level of compensation. Every year, around 20 million civil actions are bought before the courts, in the USA. Many of these cases are settled out of court. Clearly, they are an effective way of settling issues with third parties.
If you are asking yourself, how do class action lawsuits work? Or are they the only way to solve my legal issues – click the link to find out.
What is a class action lawsuit?
First, we need to point out the difference between a straight lawsuit and a class action suit. Typically, a standard lawsuit involves one litigant. Whereas, a class action is bought by a group of people who have suffered a similar injury or issue.
Usually, the lawyer uses the evidence provided by the people who have the strongest case to put together his or her legal argument. But others are included in the class action, which means that when it is won or settled all litigants get paid.
Are class actions more effective than individual lawsuits?
Generally speaking, it is easier to win a class action suit than it is a single litigant case. This is because the body of evidence that is available for your lawyer to use is so much greater. If there are hundreds of people saying that a company´s product caused the injury, it is far harder for them to deny this fact than it would be if just one person was to say that.
This weight of evidence usually also helps to ensure that the other party settles. Not doing so and going to court could easily mean that they are left having to pay out a lot more. If there are dozens of litigants, any additional payment the court awards to each person can soon add up to a significant amount of money. So, a lot of firms simply give in and settle out of court. You can find out more about how multi-litigant lawsuits work and how effective they are by reading this report.
How to find a lawsuit to join
In many situations, a class action lawsuit is a good solution. The only problem is that to be able to use this legal tool you need to find people that are in a similar position as yourself. There are several ways to do this.
Speak to a lawyer
Lawyers work closely together to seek justice. So, even if they are not involved in or planning a class action that deals with your issue, they may well know another legal professional who is.
Look online
You can also sometimes find them online. There are websites that act as portals for this type of information.
Start a conversation
Sometimes it is also worth speaking to others you think maybe in a similar position as you. For example, if you have a problem with your employer the chances are others who work for the firm will too.
Of course, you need to be cautious about the conversations you have. But often this is an effective way to find other potential litigants.
If you would like to gain a deeper understanding of class actions, you can do so by reading this article. Importantly, it explains how they work in various countries.
