Class Actions
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Description
A class action is a procedural device for aggregating relatively large numbers of similar claims in a single judicial proceeding. Class actions are used for all sorts of cases involving multiple plaintiffs or defendants, including matters as diverse as mass torts, securities fraud cases, consumer protection litigation, civil rights cases, and much else besides. Although class actions of one form or another have been recognized in a number of common law countries, and are beginning to appear in civil law systems, only in the United States have such proceedings been widely recognized. Indeed, class actions have become a major part of the US litigation landscape, although there does not appear to be a precise quantification of the scope of class litigation as compared with other, more traditional lawsuits. This essay, accordingly, will concern itself with class action practice in the United States.
Source Publication
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law
Source Editors/Authors
Peter Newman
Publication Date
1998
Volume Number
1: A - D
Recommended Citation
Miller, Geoffrey P., "Class Actions" (1998). Faculty Chapters. 2034.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/2034
