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New York Class Action Suits

Michael Decker
Michael Decker

What is a class action suit?

A judgement given in a class action suit is binding on all members of the class, irrespective of whether they are specifically named as parties to the suit. One or more members of the class may sue or be sued on behalf of all. Of course, due process must be taken into account to ensure that a state class action statute assure that the interests of the entire class will be protected. There are a host of considerations the court takes into account when deciding whether to let a class action suit proceed, which are covered in this article.

New York Class Action Suits

The New York Class Action Statute

Article 9 of New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules sets out the devices of a class action suit in the state and it allows one or more members of a class to sue or be sued on behalf of all. Yet, there are prerequisites the court will consider prior to allowing a class action suit to move ahead. They are as follows:

  1. Would the joining of all members of a class lack practicability due to it being so numerous;
  2. Are there questions of law or fact common to the class which predominate over individual questions;
  3. Will the class receive adequate and fair protection by its representatives;
  4. Do the claims or defenses of the representatives typify the entire class;
  5. Is the class action superior to other means available;
  6. Does an interest exist in individual control of separate actions amongst the individual members of the class;
  7. Would separate actions be deemed impracticable or inefficient;
  8. Is the nature and extent of other impending litigation of relevance;
  9. How desirable is it to concentrate the litigation in a single court;
  10. To what extent is the class action suit manageable.

Who is bound by a class action suit?

The court stipulates that a judgment in a class action suit will bind all the members of the class, irrespective of whether they were specifically named as parties to the suit.

Due process demands that adequate protection of the interests of an entire class be afforded protection under a state class action statute. Thus, due process will forbid the binding of nonparty members to a judgment in which their interests are adverse to those of the litigating members.

Court control over the class action suit

The class action plaintiff has 60 days from the expiration of the time to answer to move for a determination of whether the action may be maintained as a class action. The class must be described in the order which allows it to proceed.

Orders the court deem to be appropriate to the conduct and management of the class action may be made by the court as they present themselves.

Court approval is required to dismiss, discontinue or compromise a class action suit, without which this cannot occur. In a class action judgment, the court must describe all those it feels to be members of a class.

How do class actions pertain to government operations?

There is a caveat to the question of whether the class action suit is preferable to other available means. The court has deemed these actions “unnecessary” in instances involving governmental operations where adequate protection of a stare decisis operation of an adjudication would be afforded subsequent claimants. The stare decisis principle asserts that courts litigating the same points as earlier courts are bound by their decisions. As a rule, lower trial courts will only bind the involved parties but not other trial courts or higher courts.

Attorneys’ fees

The court may choose to award attorneys’ fees to the representatives of a victorious class action suit. Further, it may allow the victorious party to recover these fees from its opponent “if justice requires.”

Notice

Reasonable notice of the commencement of a class action suit, given in the manner directed by the court, is the standard set by the statute. The cost of giving notice will be incurred by the plaintiff, absent the court instructing otherwise.

What about injunctive or declaratory relief?

For a class action suit seeking injunctive or declaratory relief, there is no requirement to give notice of the pending suit to nonparty members of the class. Two criteria must be met for notice to be required. It must be necessary to protect the class and the cost of the notice may not act as a barrier to the class action suit going forward. The court has even indicated that notice may need to be given to every member of a class, at the expense of the plaintiff, as a matter of constitutional due process. This requirement surpasses the scope of the relevant federal class action provision.

Can one opt out of a class action suit?

Notice to the members includes the implicit provision of the statutory scheme that a class member may request to be excluded from the class action. For actions in money damages for which the court lacks personal jurisdiction, this right is guaranteed to class members by due process. Personal jurisdiction means the constitutional authority which is conferred on or recognized as existing for a court or judge to announce the sentence of the law or award the remedies it provides based upon a state of facts.

Yet, no such due process right is afforded a foreign state member of a class in an action which primarily seeks equitable relief, which is a remedy provided by the court requiring that a party act or refrain from performing a certain action. This may owe itself to the court’s desire in such a case to avoid multiple and inconsistent judgements.

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