Editing Class action (section)

==Description==
In a typical class action, a plaintiff sues a defendant [[Class action#Defendant class action|or a number of defendants]] on behalf of a group, or class, of absent parties.<ref name=Wex>{{cite web|title=Class Action|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/class_action|website=Wex Legal Dictionary|access-date=5 May 2015|date=2007-08-06}}</ref> This differs from a traditional lawsuit, in which the plaintiffs sue one or more defendants, and all of the parties are present in court.  For example, a group in a class action lawsuit could be any person who ever bought a specific dangerous product; in a traditional lawsuit, the plaintiff is a single individual person or business that bought the dangerous product.

Although standards differ between states and countries, class actions are most common where the allegations usually involve at least 40 people who the same defendant has injured in the same way.<ref name="Wex" /> Instead of each individual person bringing their own lawsuits separately, the class action allows all the claims of all class members—whether they know they have been damaged or not—to be resolved in a single proceeding through the efforts of the representative plaintiff(s) and appointed class counsel.<ref name="Wex" />