Survey Of State Class Action Law Patrick Hennessy is a nationally recognized expert on class action litigation.  He is the author of the Louisiana section of the Annual Survey of State Class Action Law published annually by The American Bar Association.  To read his 2011 submission to this distinguished journal, please click here. This file is in Adobe Acrobat format and requires Adobe Reader to view.

Q.  What are the duties of a class representative?

There are many duties of a class representative.

    (1)    The class representative must represent the interest of all class members, as opposed to representing his own interest.

    (2)    As a class representative, the law will require that you “adequately and fairly represent the class.” There are several components to this requirement:

        (a)    As class representative, you are required to be generally familiar with the case. You are not required to know everything about the case; that’s the job of your counsel. You must, however, keep informed of the major events and you must read and generally understand the complaint. You should know who you are suing and why you are filing suit.

        (b)    You will be required to confer with your attorneys with regard to major matters as needed.

        (c)    You are legally required to vigorously prosecute the litigation; however, if we represent you, we will, with your authorization, be responsible for the vigorous prosecution of the litigation.

        (d)    You must hire lawyers experienced in class action litigation. This firm has experience as lead counsel and co-counsel in class action matters and have handled several class action matters to a successful resolution.

    (3)    Class actions are expensive to prosecute. There are court costs, copy expenses, depositions, travel, and notice costs if the class is certified. If we represent you in a class action, we will advance all costs and you will not be responsible for the repayment of those costs even if we are unsuccessful. If we are successful in pursuing the class action, costs will typically be recovered from the defendant. In any event, you will not be responsible for those costs.

    (4)    If the class is certified, you will be responsible for providing notice to the class. Again, however, we, as your counsel, will undertake this task on your behalf as part of the vigorous prosecution of the case.

    (5)    As class representative, you will receive no special treatment. We cannot and will not promise you any compensation above and beyond the compensation which may be awarded to any other class member. If successful, we will probably ask the judge to award you additional compensation for the extra time and effort you have expended as class representative, but we cannot guarantee that the judge will grant our request. Should you decide to act as a class representative, it is important for you to realize that you will be acting for the good of the class without any promise or guarantee of any additional compensation for your time and trouble.

    (6)    As class representative, you will not be responsible for the investigation of the case, and you are not required to be an expert on the claims. If you act as class representative, you will likely be asked to give a deposition and will be questioned as to what investigation you have performed and expertise you have. In answer, you will be perfectly justified in saying that you have hired experienced attorneys whom you are relying on to do the appropriate investigation and to be experts in regard to the claim. Your duty is to be generally familiar with the claims and the parties.

    (7)    If you act as class representative, you will not be personally responsible for any attorney’s fees. In fact, attorney’s fees are recoverable only if the matter is successfully prosecuted and then only if approved by the court. Those fees are usually payable out of money which is recovered from the defendant and if so, your recovery may be diminished by the amount of attorney’s fees which are paid, but you will not be personally responsible for paying any attorney’s fees out of pocket.

    (8)    In most cases, legitimate lawsuits are settled without a trial. This rule applies to class actions just like any other case. The difference with a class action is that a class action settlement must be approved by the court. If we pursue a class action on your behalf and enter into settlement negotiations, we will consult with you before we agree to settle.

If you think you have a claim which should be pursued as a class action and are willing to serve as a class representative, contact us to discuss the matter further.