Legal Definitions - class suit

A class suit, also known as a class action, is a type of lawsuit where one or more individuals sue on behalf of a larger group of people who have similar legal claims against the same defendant. Instead of each person filing their own separate lawsuit, the class action allows a single case to resolve the claims of many individuals who have suffered a similar wrong or injury.

The core idea is efficiency and fairness: it allows claims that might be too small individually to justify a lawsuit to be brought collectively, and it prevents the legal system from being overwhelmed by hundreds or thousands of identical lawsuits.

Here are some examples:

• Example 1: Defective Medical Device
  Imagine a medical device manufacturer sells a new type of implantable device that, after several years, is found to have a design flaw causing serious health complications in a significant percentage of patients. Instead of thousands of individual patients each suing the manufacturer, a few affected patients might initiate a class suit. They would represent all other patients who received the same defective device and suffered similar injuries, seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain, and suffering on behalf of the entire group.

  This illustrates a class suit because a small number of plaintiffs are representing a much larger group of individuals (the "class") who all experienced a similar harm (health complications from the defective device) caused by the same defendant (the manufacturer).

• Example 2: Wage Theft by a Large Employer
  Consider a large retail chain that routinely fails to pay its hourly employees for all the time they work, perhaps by automatically deducting lunch breaks even when employees work through them, or by not paying for mandatory pre-shift meetings. If hundreds or thousands of current and former employees have been underpaid in this manner, a few employees could file a class suit against the company. They would seek to recover the unpaid wages and other damages for all employees who were subjected to the same illegal pay practices.

  This demonstrates a class suit because a few employees are acting as representatives for a broad class of current and former employees who share a common legal grievance (wage theft) against the same employer.

• Example 3: Data Breach Affecting Customer Information
  Suppose a major online retailer experiences a significant data breach, compromising the personal information (like names, addresses, and credit card numbers) of millions of its customers. While individual customers might suffer varying degrees of harm, many would share a common concern about identity theft and the need for credit monitoring. A few affected customers could file a class suit against the retailer, representing all customers whose data was exposed. The lawsuit might seek compensation for damages related to the breach, such as the cost of credit monitoring services or losses due to identity theft, for the entire group.

  This is an example of a class suit because a small group of plaintiffs is suing on behalf of a very large and identifiable class of individuals (customers whose data was compromised) who all suffered a similar type of injury (exposure of personal data) due to the same event (the data breach) caused by the same defendant (the online retailer).