A class action is a very large-scale lawsuit that involves thousands, if not millions, of plaintiffs. Class actions lawsuits are civil lawsuits brought by one or more people on behalf of themselves and others who are similarly situated. In other words, the others are in a substantially similar circumstance where the common issues are the most critical to the lawsuit.

For example, if a large number of investors lose money as a result of a public company’s allegedly fraudulent activity by the company, the principal issue will be whether the fraud caused money to be lost. In addition to securities related class actions, Hach & Rose handles class actions against the manufacturers of allegedly defective or hazardous products.

Typical class actions involve hundreds, thousands or millions of people who have comparable claims. Class action “certification” permits all claims to be heard in a single trial. A “class” is just another name for a group of plaintiffs. But the answer to this question really depends on why the group is suing. In the case of security, the class is usually comprised of any shareholder who owned the stock when the alleged fraud would have affected the share price.