Difference between class action lawsuit and public interest litigation A. Definition:CLASS ACTION SUIT
In law, a class action o orr a representative action is a form of lawsuit lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a c laim to court and/or in which a class c lass of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United St ates and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. However, in several European co untries with civil law different from the English common law princip le (which is used by U.S. courts), co urts), changes have been made in recent years that allow consumer organizations to bring claims on behalf of large groups of consumers. PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
In Indian law, public interest litigation litigation means litigation for the protection protect ion of the public interest. It is litigation introduced in a court o f law, not by the aggrieved party but by the court itself or by any other private party. It is not necessary, for the exercise of the court's jurisdiction, that the person who is the victim of the violation of his or her right should personally approach the court. Public interest litigation is the power po wer given to the public by courts cou rts through judicial activism. However, the person filing the petition must prove to the satisfaction of the court that the petition is being filed for a public interest and not just as a frivolous frivolous litigation by a busy bu sy body. Such cases may occur when the victim does not have the necessary resources to commence litigation or his freedom to move court has been suppressed or encroached upon. The court can itself take cognisance of the matter and proceed suomotu or cases can commence on the petition of any public-spirited pu blic-spirited individual. B. Importance CLASS ACTION SUIT Class
action lawsuits are an important and valuable part o f the legal system when they permit the fair and efficient resolution of legitimate claims of numerous parties. Such c laims might otherwise evade legal enforcement.Class actions actions may also a lso help regulators control conduct that threatens to harm various markets. Securities S ecurities and other consumer classactions serve to enforce regulatory standards designed to controlor deter fraudulent marketplace conduct that might otherwise escape regulation.Aggregation can increase the efficiency of the legal process, and lower the costs co sts of litigation. litigation. In cases with co mmon mmon questions quest ions of law and fact, aggregation of claims into a class action may avo id the necessity of repeating "days of o f the same witnesses, exhibits and issues fro m trial to trial.
A class action ensures that a defendant who engages in widespread harm ± but does so minimally against each individual plaintiff ± must compensate tho se individuals for their injuries.Class action cases may be brought to purposely change behavior of a class of which the defendant is a member.In "limited fund" cases, a class action ensures that all plaintiffs receive relief and that early-filing plaintiffs do not raid the funda c lass action avoids the situation where different court rulings could create "incompatible standards" of co nduct for the defendant to follow. PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
The British rule bequeathed to India a colonial legal heritage. The Anglo-Saxon model of adjudication insisted upon observance of procedural technicalities such as locus standi and adherence to adversarial system of litigation. The result was t hat the courts were accessible only to the rich and the influential people. The marginalized and disadvantaged groups continued to be exploited and denied basic human rights. PIL today offers such a paradigm which locates the content of informal justice without the formal legal system. Non Anglo-Saxon jurisdiction directs courts to transcend t he traditional judicial function of adjudication and provide remedies for social wrongs. PIL had already molded the state in to the instrument of socio-economic change. Social justice is the bypro duct of this transcends from the formal legal system. Public interest litigation is working as an important instrument of social change. It is working for the welfare of every section of society. It¶s the sword of every one used o nly for taking the justice. The innovation of this legitimate instrument proved beneficial for the developing country like India. PIL has been used as a strategy to combat the atrocities prevailing in society. It ¶s an institutional initiative towards the welfare of the needy class of the society. C. Procedure CLASS ACTION SUIT
The procedure for filing a class action is to file suit with one or several named plaintiffs on behalf of a proposed class. The proposed class must consist of a gro up of individuals or business entities that have suffered a common injury or injuries. Typically these cases result from an action on the part of a business or a particular product defect or policy that applied to all proposed class members in a typical manner. After the complaint is filed, the plaintiff must file a motion to have the class certified. In some cases class certification may require discovery in order to determine its size and if the proposed class meets the standard for class certification. Upon the motion to certify the class, the defendants may object to whether the issues are appropriately handled as a class action, to whether the named plaintiffs are sufficiently
representative of the class, and to t heir relationship with the law firm or firms handling the case. The court will also examine the ability o f the firm to prosecute the claim for the p laintiffs, and their resources for dealing with class actions. Due process requires in most cases that notice describing the class action be sent, published, or broadcast to class members. As part of this notice procedure, there may ha ve to be several notices, first a notice giving class members the o pportunity to opt out of the class, i.e. if individuals wish to proceed with their own litigation they are entitled to do so, only to the extent that they give timely notice to the class counsel or the court that they are opting out. Second, if there is a settlement proposal, the court will usually direct the class counsel to send a settlement notice to all the members of the cert ified class, informing them of the details of the proposed settlement. PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
1. Make an informed decision to file a case. 2.Consult all affected interest groups who are possible allies. 3.Be careful in filing a case because i.Litigation can be expensive. ii.Litigation can be time consuming. iii.Litigation can take away decision making capability/strength from communities. iv.An adverse decision can affect the strength of the movement. v.Litigation involvement can divert the attention of the community away from the real issues. 4.If you have taken the decision i.Collect all the relevant information ii.Be meticulous in gathering detail for use in the case. If you plan to use photographs, retain the negatives and take an a ffidavit from the photographer. Retain bills. iii.Write to the relevant authorities and be clear about your demands. iv.Maintain records in an organized fashion. v.Consult a lawyer on the choice of forum. vi.Engage a competent lawyer. If you are handling the matter yourself make sure you get good legal advice on the drafting. vii.A PIL can be filed o nly by a registered organization. If you are unregistered, please file the PIL in the name of an office bearer/member in his/her personal capacity. viii.You may have to issue a legal notice to the concerned parties/authorities before filing a PIL. Filing a suit against the government would require issuing a notice to the concerned officer department at least two months prior to filing.
(a) Prerequisites.
One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all members only if: (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative part ies are typical of the claims or defenses of the class; and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect t he interests of the class.
