Eli5: What is a “class-action” lawsuit?
In: 7
The over simplified explanation is basically a bunch of people team up to sue a large company if they all suffer the same harm. For example, if you bought a shoe that had a defect that caused you to lose your toe, it would be hard for you to sue the shoe maker if you don’t have the time or money. If 50,000 people also lost their toe because of this shoe, you can roll all 50,000 law suits into 1. A high quality lawer is gonna want to take that case because if they win, they win a small percentage of all 50,000 pay outs which is a lot. The case will be stronger with a high chance of winning or getting a settlement. The only draw back is the pay out to the individual people is watered down. The reason you see them mentioned in TV commercials so often is that the people in charge of the lawsuit have to prove that they gave everyone a reasonable chance to join the suit because once the suit is settled, someone else can’t sue for the same thing in the future.
Latest Answers