Class action lawsuits often begin with one person or a few individuals that have been harmed by a defective product or improper conduct by a corporation and want assistance in recovery of their losses. When the attorney is consulted if they believe there are other people that have been affected in the same or similar way or injury they will work to identify other potential individuals to join the class action lawsuit. They will have a judge certify the class for the lawsuit. If you have been injured by a product or improper conduct the Los Angeles class action Ehline Law firm would like to speak with you.

Who is the Lead Plaintiff?

The lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit is usually the person that first spoke to the class action attorney; this is also often known as the named plaintiff or class representative. It is possible for anyone in the class action lawsuit to offer to be the lead plaintiff, but this must be officially sanctioned by the court. This will be governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or it can be state specific procedural rules. There are some areas of the law that specific rules govern how the court will determine the class representative. One of the ways the lead plaintiff is determined by the Private Securities Litigation Reformed Act, the lead plaintiff is the person with the largest financial loss or highest percentage of damages sought by the class action lawsuit. It is possible for more than one lead plaintiff to be named in the class depending on the circumstances of the legal claim. This means that several named plaintiffs serve together as the lead plaintiff.

The named plaintiff will need to meet specific criteria in the facts of the class action lawsuit. The first of these is the lead plaintiff’s injuries will be representative of the entire class, and the judge will need to believe the lead plaintiff will satisfactorily represent the interests of the class. This person will need to be associated with the case, such as a person that has had their property damaged due to ground water contamination in a groundwater and air contamination class action lawsuit.

The Lead Plaintiff’s Responsibility

Once the plaintiff has been named the lead plaintiff by the court, they will work with the attorney and the court to determine who will become a class member. As the class action lawsuit progresses the lead plaintiff will also have some control, along with the attorneys what direction the litigation will follow. The lead plaintiff will be present with the attorneys at the pre-trial conferences, which will have the appearance of an individual lawsuit. This plaintiff unlike the others in the class will spend much more time in service during the lawsuit when they agree to serve as the named plaintiff.

The class action can also be known as representative actions due to the fact that one person or only a few people are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit that is a class action lawsuit filed for similar injuries. The lead or named plaintiff is the class representative named in the lawsuit and this allows them to work with the attorneys for the rest of the class. The Los Angeles, California class action attorneys at Ehline Law can assist the class action group and assist the named or lead plaintiff.