This type of litigation occurs when one person or a small group of people with similar complaints instruct a class action lawyer to represent the interests of an entire category of people in litigation. The benefit of this type of lawsuit is to save court time by allowing a single judge to hear all complaints at the same time. In order to be certified by the court thereby allowing all members an equal say and equal share in the proceeds of the litigation it is necessary for there to be an adequate number of potential plaintiffs who seek common damages as a result of the same legal issues. All claims must arise from the same event, must have a similar legal basis and the representative plaintiff must protect and represent the interest of all claimants. It is effectively a procedural device that allows multiple claims for known and unknown claimants in multiple jurisdictions to be litigated efficiently and resolved with finality.
A class action lawyer that pursues this type of claim for compensation usually does so using a contingency fee arrangement with a figure of 25% being the most common amount of remuneration for their services in the event of a successful outcome. The court which must approve the amount of legal fees can and often does adjust the figure to a higher or lower amount dependant on the complexity of the legal issues, the expenditure involved and the time spent on resolving the case.
A class action lawyer will most often be involved in legal proceedings against drug manufacturers for unexpected fatal or life threatening side effects of their products and for defective medical devices which fail or have dangerous tendencies. A claim can be filed as an individual lawsuit and also at the same time as a class action lawsuit which allows a representative to aggregate all claims and ask for the cumulative amount of money in damages which is then shared by all members.
The procedure followed by a class action lawyer is to initially file suit on behalf of one or more claimants, usually in a state court, and thereafter the attorney must file a motion to have the action certified as being representative of the aggregated group of potential plaintiffs all of whom must have suffered common injuries. At this stage courts frequently request further information prior to certification which can be challenged by the defendant on the basis that the action is not suitable for certification or that the claimants are not sufficiently representative.
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