When you have suffered any sort of personal injury, you do have the option of pursuing your own individual lawsuit against a company or private party. In some instances where numerous people have filed their own personal injury lawsuits against a company for the same or similar injuries, a class action suit may be filed. You then have the choice of joining the class action suit, or continuing with your own individual lawsuit. Regardless of what path you choose, here is what you can expect.
Individual Lawsuits Are Costly but You May Receive More Compensation
If you pursue your own lawsuit while a class action suit is in effect, you will have to continue funding your lawyer to pursue your case. It becomes much more costly than a class action suit, where the lawyer or lawyers may work on contingency rather than charge all of the clients up front. However, you may receive a higher settlement amount than if you had joined the class action suit. Your personal injury attorney would receive all monies owed before you can claim what is left.
Class Action Suits Take Forever but They Almost Always Win
In almost all instances of class action suits, it takes years to come to an agreement/settlement with the company that everyone is suing. That is because the lawyers have to root out, find, and get all of the affected victims on board with the lawsuit so that additional lawsuits with a fresh batch of clients cannot pursue compensation with the same company again. The court process is also very different, as appeals can drag out the process for a very long time.
Ultimately, when a ruling in favor of the victims is finally made, the company being sued can still appeal the ruling. When it all comes to a final ruling, your "piece of the pie" may be less than what you might have received in an individual personal injury suit. The winnings have to be split among dozens to thousands of litigants who joined the suit "facelessly" (i.e., they signed up to join the suit, but never met with the lawyers leading the class action suit).
An Individual Case Provides Legal Support for the Class Action Suit
Say that you file an individual personal injury suit. Your lawyer argues it brilliantly, and you win all the compensation you expect. The class action lawyers can use your winning case as supporting evidence to argue their case, even though you do not get any compensation from the class action suit. At least you can still show other victims that they can fight an individual suit and win, if they want.
If you are looking to file an individual or class action suit, contact a local law firm that specializes in accident and personal injury law, like Law Offices of Michael Dye.