Legal Definitions - class

Class

In legal terms, a class refers to a group of individuals who share one or more common characteristics, attributes, or experiences that are relevant to a legal issue. This grouping is often used to identify people who possess similar rights, have suffered similar harm, or are subject to the same legal obligations.

• Example 1: Imagine a situation where several hundred former employees of a large company believe they were unfairly denied retirement benefits due to a change in company policy that specifically targeted long-term employees. These former employees would constitute a class because they all share the common attribute of being former employees, being affected by the same policy change, and believing they were denied benefits for similar reasons.

• Example 2: Consider a scenario where a pharmaceutical company sold a particular medication that was later found to cause a specific adverse side effect in a significant number of users. All individuals who purchased and used that specific medication and subsequently developed the identified side effect would form a class. They are united by having used the same product and experiencing the same type of harm.

• Example 3: Suppose a local government agency implemented a new zoning regulation that disproportionately restricted the property development rights of all landowners within a specific historic district. All the landowners within that designated historic district, whose property rights were similarly affected by the new regulation, would be considered a class. Their common characteristic is owning property in the same district and being subject to the identical new legal restriction.