New Jersey Class Actions
What is a class action and how does it work?
A class action is a procedural device to allow one or a few representatives act on behalf of many other people. Because the person is acting in a representative capacity the rules require that this claim be substantially similar to the other “absent” class members. The interests must be similar, the claims must be similar, and the underlying facts supporting the similar claim must be similar. As an example if the class member is alleging that he was charged an improper document fee as part of an automobile transaction, the other class members must also have purchased the product and must also have purchased a vehicle.
As you can see there are some very simple cases that are well suited for class actions. See for example Cerbo v. Ford of Englewood where the plaintiff was alleging that she and other consumers were overcharged for title and registration fees. This was a huge class action with thousands of class members who received a refund of the overcharges to an extent with certain conditions. The claims were simple and very amenable to class action procedures. Simple claims make the best class actions. Class action settlements range into the billions of dollars depending on the size of the class and the size of the claim. Just search the internet for class action and settlement and you will get pages of class action results.
Carton and Rudnick family law
Carton and Rudnick consumer law
Carton and Rudnick
