Video Transcript: What Makes A Good Class Action Case?

Not all cases make for good class actions. For example, a case where we had individual reactions, individual circumstances, something unique about the parties, those don’t make for a good class actions because the evidence and witnesses that will be used to resolve that case are different. It’s not the same for everybody, and that is what is required for a class action. And if you think about it, when a judge or a jury resolves a case and it’s certified as a class action, that decision will be binding on all of the class members. And that would include the absent class members, the people that aren’t actually in the courtroom. And if those people have unique facts and circumstances, different reactions, to the product, or different legal issues and defenses– different meaning different from the named class representatives– then it’s just not fair to have them bound by a proceeding. They should be able to go get their own lawyer and decide if they want to resolve that dispute. So a case that has unique facts and circumstances is typically not certified as a class action, and it really comes down to what in constitutional law terms we call due process. We don’t deprive people of life, liberty, and property without due process. That means those people have the chance to come in and have their own case heard in front of their own jury.