A class action litigator in Washington, DC, Jeffrey Douglas Kaliel serves as a partner at Kaliel, PLLC. At his firm, Jeffrey Douglas Kaliel focuses on handling consumer class action suits, and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients.
Class action lawsuits make for great news stories and are frequently in headlines, yet many people don’t actually understand such lawsuits and what they can mean. Here are a few must-know facts about class action suits:
There’s strength in numbers.
While there isn’t a set number of plaintiffs that class action lawsuits must have, larger numbers do have more power. Courts prefer moving class action cases with hundreds of plaintiffs through the legal system more efficiently, and these cases have a higher chance of ending positively for the plaintiffs.
The payout is sometimes small.
There are many class action cases where large corporations have settled for millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, but that doesn’t mean plaintiffs will all get huge payouts for their issues. Rather, the individual payout amount depends on the number of plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs lose some of their rights.
Joining a class action lawsuit can be attractive for people, since it splits legal costs and can increase their chances of success. By joining such a suit, however,, plaintiffs forfeit their rights to pursue legal action individually. For many, this isn’t important, but some individuals may be capable of obtaining a more meaningful court victory if they file suits alone.
Jeffrey Douglas Kaliel 