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The Pros and Cons of Joining a Class Action Lawsuit

Legally Reviewed

This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy and clarity by the team of writers and attorneys at Keith Law Group and is as accurate as possible. This content should not be taken as legal advice from an attorney. If you would like to learn more about our owner and experienced injury lawyer, Sean T. Keith, you can do so here.

Keith Law Group does everything possible to make sure the information in this article is up to date and accurate. If you need specific legal advice about your case, contact us. This article should not be taken as advice from an attorney.

Joining A Class Action Lawsuit: Pros & Cons

Class action lawsuits are lawsuits that involve a group of people called a class who collectively take action against similar injustices done to them.

Class action lawsuits can be filed for many different reasons but are usually necessary when the same perpetrator has caused difficulties to a wide range of people.

Most instances of class action lawsuits involve companies who have cheated or duped their customers on a particular detail or corporations that have caused problems to the residents of their place.

Anyone can file a class-action lawsuit.

However, there are some specifics to these lawsuits that make them worth joining.

Here are a few major pros and cons of a class-action lawsuit.

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Table of Contents

Pros Of Joining A Class Action Lawsuit

More Strength as a Group 

One of the significant advantages is that since there are many people filing a lawsuit together, there is a major support system for each of them.

No matter how strong the company or corporation facing these people is, it will have a harder time refuting the claims of a significant group of people who think it is at fault.

Your Lawsuit Charges are Significantly Less

Unlike in the case of an individual lawsuit, a class-action lawsuit involves a significant number of people as plaintiffs and therefore requires you to pay very little for the lawsuit.

Your litigation charges are so low that you could discuss with the other plaintiffs and pay for a very competent and qualified lawyer to win your case.

This, in turn, increases the potential of a point in your favor.

Advantageous to the Judicial System

Some cases are ideally meant to be submitted as class action lawsuits because of their nature.

Doing so also helps the court systems work efficiently as, if these class action lawsuits would all take the form of individual lawsuits, then the court would have to spend a lot of its time and resources trying to solve every one of those cases separately.

Filing class action lawsuits help the court system function efficiently and assign its resources well to its citizens’ betterment.

Guaranteed Settlements

Although not very generous, filing for a class action lawsuit can land you with an almost certain sum of compensation as if the case is in your favor, then all the members who filed the case are bound to receive some form of compensation.

Also, the chances of a class-action lawsuit not being in favor of the plaintiffs are very rare as a common problem faced by several people together is most likely to be legitimate from a statistical standpoint.

Cons Of Joining A Class Action Lawsuit

Very Little Agency in the Matter

One of the significant disadvantages of class action lawsuits is the lack of agency.

Since it is filed by many people, the chances of an individual having a say in the settlement agreements or how the accused affected an individual are very small.

The plaintiffs are usually represented by a single representative who collectively decides how to make beneficial choices for the whole class.

Even the settlements received out of the agreement resolved are not usually in your control if you file for a class-action lawsuit.

Class Action Lawsuits Take a Very Long Time to Settle

Unlike regular individual lawsuits, which require very little time to be settled, class action lawsuits take ages to solve.

Owing to the fact that class action lawsuits usually involve a lot of plaintiffs, the complications arising from it are immense.

They, therefore, require a specialized process to see the light of day.

Some class-action lawsuits might take even more than three years to be ultimately settled.

This creates many difficulties and is therefore very dangerous to get into if you need immediate results or compensation.

Furthermore, the compensation is also sometimes not enough to meet your expectations and can result in further problems to your wellbeing.

Class Action Lawsuits Cannot Be Reapplied To

Another major disadvantage is the strict policy that dictates any future course of action after a lawsuit.

It dictates clearly that in case of a class-action lawsuit, one cannot appeal again either individually or as a class if the plaintiff’s side lost to the court’s judgment.

This would imply that you cannot file another case on the party you intended to sue if you lose the case once.

While class action lawsuits are a beneficial way to file a case against a strong contender who has caused similar harm to other people, one should tread carefully and choose if they want to overlook the cons of a class-action lawsuit.

For more assistance and information on pros and cons of class action lawsuits, talk with our experienced attorneys today.

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