Class action suit

Revision as of 17:43, 9 September 2004 by 142.177.109.161 (talk) (revert attempt to trivialize: the GFDL contributors do not "feel" they are deprived, they can PROVE this, and there are MANY cases of alleged and collective identity and libel re: WM)
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A class action suit is a lawsuit in which an entire group or class of people claims a similar harm has been done to them by the same party or parties. For example:

  • The claim that pollution released upstream does harm to people downstream could be advanced by a group of people seeking compensation for health harms.

Rules for filing such suits vary by jurisdiction. In general the United States makes it relatively easy to file such suits. However, even where they are harder to file, such as in India or Ontario, there are sometimes rules favourable to plaintiffs: In Ontario, plaintiffs can sell shares in the eventual judgement damages, to finance the case itself; In a famous case against broker w:Nesbitt Burns, there were literally people lined up around the block to buy shares in the lawsuit against this infamous company which sold shares in w:Bre-X. Ontario also has quite lax libel and slander laws under which one can sue even when true things are being said - if they are out of context to the discussion or discourse and not relevant to the decisions being made. Which is the case for Wikipedia mailing list in most or all cases, it is simply a hate forum for the sysop power structure.