A class-action lawsuit is a type of legal proceeding that is helpful when there are excessive claims against an organization or being that makes it impossible to file individual claims for each petitioner.
These types of lawsuits typically revolve around injustices resulting from securities or bank frauds, environmental liability, corporate misconduct, and false advertisement.
Most people know about this document but don’t know how to file a class-action lawsuit. That’s because a class-action lawsuit is always different from the typical injury claim.
First, you have to get a class-action lawyer that evaluates your case and helps you to file the complaint. Another important step in filing a class-action lawsuit is that the judge must approve the class certification.
This article contains some helpful steps that can guide you to file a class-action lawsuit and gain the class certification. So, let’s get started.
Steps to Filing a Class-Action Lawsuit
1. Get the professional help
It is recommended to meet with the class-action lawyer who is an expert in these cases because not all lawyers can handle and have the knowledge to deal with a class-action lawsuit. Based on the factors of the case, many lawyers offer free case options in a complimentary consultation.
The class-action lawyer helps you find other lawsuits filed against this entity based on the same issue you are facing. With professional help, you can see the potential outcome of the case based on similar cases.
When lawyers gather enough proof to hold the opposite party accountable after a full investigation, they give you a green flag to file a complaint and recover the compensation.
2. File the complaint
When you see the positive potential in your case, your class-action lawyer will prepare the complaint. Through this complaint, you represent the basic outline of the case and your damages. This legal document is the proof that shows your case is a class action, not a simple individual lawsuit.
In this complaint, you give a brief description of why you believe this is a class action case and who will be a part of the class. For example, when you file the claim at the state level, you only add the residents of your state in the possible class.
But make sure to keep the claim document as simple as possible and define who and who is not the class member. The number of class members who are joining the lawsuit is at least above twenty-one.
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3. Gain Class Action Certification
The last and the most important step in filing the claim is that the judge must approve the class certification; it means an affirmative ruling of the case. Most of the time, legal departments and courts of the state use the class actions to help deal with a large-scale influx of cases against the one entity.
When the cases are too different from one another, the courts will not approve a class action and dismiss all those claims the judge finds to have doubtful facts.
So, it is important to get the class certification if you want that case to move forward to pre-trial procedures. Certification of the case doesn’t mean that the defendant is at fault or you can 100% win the case. It means that the case is verified, and the defendant must have faced a legitimate lawsuit. After the class action case is certified, most of the time, defendants start injury settlement negotiations.