When a large number of people have been injured by the actions of a company, it may be to their benefit to bring their claim against the company as a group instead of individually. This is referred to as a class action lawsuit.
Many such lawsuits involve individuals from different geographic regions, so even if, for example, you suffered physical injury from the actions of a company while living in Buffalo, you may end up entering into a case involving people from around the state or even the country.
Not all class action lawsuits involve physical injury to individuals, they may also involve issues such as illegal hiring practices. Examples of well known class action lawsuits that do involve physical injury or wrongful death would include cases against pharmaceutical companies for drugs that prove to have dangerous side effects and cases against tobacco manufacturers.
If you join a class action lawsuit, you will usually have to sign papers forfeiting the right to sue the company as an individual. If you and the other individuals are awarded monetary damages, the money received from the company is typically divided up based on the amount of damage to each individual. In other words, in most cases not all of the individuals are entitled to equal compensation. Instead, those who suffered more harm will receive greater compensation than those who suffered less harm.
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