a person who sues on behalf of a group of other shareholders and seeks to recover not only his own damages, but those of an entire class of defrauded shareholders
a person who sues on behalf of himself or herself, as well as on behalf of a group of people (the "class") who have suffered as a result of the same misconduct
a person who sues on behalf of himself or herself as well as on behalf of others (the "class") who have been similarly injured or damaged
As part of a judge's determination of whether a class should be certified, the judge determines that one or more people will be allowed to continue as the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit and to represent the interests of all of the people in the class.
A person named in the complaint as the plaintiff and who has been determined by the court to be a legally "adequate" person to represent the interests of the class.
One or more plaintiff identified as representing the class in a lawsuit. Class action lawsuits cannot be brought without persons willing to be plaintiffs and class representatives. Class representatives have a duty to protect the interests of the class members on whose behalf they bring the action. They also have more responsibility in the litigation process, including answering questions and producing documents for discovery and appearing for a deposition. Depending on the class definition, a variety of plaintiffs/class representatives sometimes are needed to represent various components of the workforce.
