Class Action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. Class actions are commonly referred to as class action suits; however, this phrase is redundant as the historical distinction between "actions" at law and "suits" in equity is no longer recognized. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon. However, in several European countries with civil law, as opposed to the Anglo-American common law system, changes have been made in recent years that allow consumer organizations to bring claims on behalf of large groups of consumers.
Read more about Class Action: U.S. Federal Class Actions, Advantages, Criticisms, Ethics, Defendant Class Action, Mass Actions, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, India, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland
Famous quotes containing the words class and/or action:
“Class is rarely talked about in the United States; nowhere is there a more intense silence about the reality of class differences than in educational settings.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“The Oriental philosophy approaches easily loftier themes than the modern aspires to; and no wonder if it sometimes prattle about them. It only assigns their due rank respectively to Action and Contemplation, or rather does full justice to the latter. Western philosophers have not conceived of the significance of Contemplation in their sense.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)