Every individual upon whom the court’s decision on the class action has an effect on should be notified that the class action lawsuit has commenced. In most of the cases, it is not possible to send personal notices to every individual who are going to be affected by the court’s decision; however, each one of them is entitled for receiving the best possible notice.

The court orders the representative of the class through attorneys administering the case for trying their best to notify every unknown member of the class through general media like: posted flyers, television announcements and advertisements on newspapers and magazines. The court also tailors the kind of notice needed depending on the particulars of a case. The people who get notified will have the opportunity to choose between ‘opting in and ‘opt out’. Choosing ‘opting in’ means that they are ready to participate as the class member; whereas selecting ‘opt out’ signify that the person is not participating as the class member. When the class action is filed over some specific injuries resulted due to the faults of a particular defendant, every person who is in the similar situation automatically get included in that class and will have to follow the outcome.

The Role of Class Action

The primary plus of the class action is its effectiveness. Class action lawsuits work by bringing the complaints of hundreds and thousands of claimants together.  Handling so many cases collectively would not have been possible without this form of lawsuits. The decision regarding who is going to win the lawsuit is decided by the judge. When the defendant comes out as the winner, the lawsuit gets dismissed; in that case, the members of the group are not allowed to file a fresh or individual lawsuit regarding the same incident opposing the same defendant. When the court finds that the defendant is accountable for causing harm to the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs win; later, the sum of recovery gets divided between all plaintiffs.

As the class actions function by aggregating the small claims, it successfully reduces the high expenses of litigation. This form of lawsuits is mostly filed by attorneys having specific training and experience of managing complex court cases. The other notable benefit offered by class actions is that they make sure that every plaintiff obtains something as compensation. At times, if the defendant gets bankrupt, he or she fails to pay the full amount required for covering the losses of the plaintiff. When the lawsuit is won by the class, every member will receive some compensation, even if the amount is not enough for covering the damages. The payments by defendants are done following the first come first served rule.