QUESTION
Is it possible to change a personal lawsuit into a class action lawsuit?
Asked on Jul 13th, 2012 on Civil Litigation - New York
More details to this question:
Hello,
I may have to file suit against a company I''ve done business with, assuming we can''t reach a settlement. If I file suit, I have two options: a personal lawsuit with me as the only plaintiff or a class action. The causes of action in my suit would be the same as the class action. That is, I would be a legitimate representative plaintiff for the class.
So, my question is if I begin a personal lawsuit with me as the only plaintiff, can I move to have the lawsuit withdrawn so that I may file a class action or can I move to have it amended so that it becomes a class action (it might have to be moved to a different venue, I suppose, but that is not of any particular interest to me.)
1 ANSWER
If you start an action with yourself as a plaintiff, you can later seek to amend your complaint to allege a class action, but the better practice usually is to start the action as a class action. If the class is later not certified, your individual claim would remain. However, in a class action, not only the plaintiff must be approved as an appropriate representative, but also the plaintiff's attorney. Without knowing a lot more, I can't speculate as to how likely you are to be approved as the class representative, but you cannot act as attorney for the class unless you are admitted to practice law in the jurisdiction. As a general rule, non-attorneys can represent themselves, but not others. This being the case, you have to think about what advantage there would be to you to commence the action as a class action.
Answered on Jul 16th, 2012 at 7:02 PM