Class action lawsuits are a way for the court, and everybody involved, to streamline the process when many people have legal claims arising from the same event.

For example, a medication may injure many people, such as Vioxx, which has recently been in the news for causing heart problems.

Or a substance may injure a lot of people, such as asbestos, which causes mesothelioma cancer. Or the injury may be financial, such as the Enron case.

Class actions almost always start out as regular law suits. One person who has been harmed goes to an attorney to talk with them about the injury they have suffered. Either prior to filing the lawsuit, or in the course of conducting the lawsuit, the attorney discovers that their client is not the only person who has been affected by the act or event which injured their client. And if it turns out that many people have been affected, the attorney will consider asking the court to allow for a class action, so that each person does not have to file their own separate lawsuit.

Sometimes, however, a group of aggrieved people will get together, talk with an attorney, and attempt to hit the ground running with a class action lawsuit right out of the gate.

In either case, there is no right to a class action lawsuit, and…

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[tags]class action,class actio lawsuits[/tags]