A class action is a type of lawsuit in which one or a few plaintiffs seek to represent hundreds or thousands of plaintiffs with the same or similar claims against the same defendants. Rules of procedure in state and federal courts permit class actions in limited circumstances for the purpose of resolving similar disputes more efficiently than if each plaintiff filed a separate lawsuit.
In Arkansas, class action lawsuits are governed by the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, specifically Rule 23, which is similar to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. These rules allow one or more plaintiffs to represent a larger group of individuals, known as a class, in a single lawsuit if the class is so numerous that individual lawsuits would be impractical, there are questions of law or fact common to the class, the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. The court must certify the class for the case to proceed as a class action. This process is designed to promote judicial efficiency and consistency of judgments, and to allow individuals with small monetary claims to have a mechanism to address wrongs that might otherwise be too costly to litigate individually.