In a class action lawsuit, a group of plaintiffs is considered a class, which is treated as one plaintiff, and this group is represented by a class representative, who stands in for the rest of the class. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure establish the needed conditions for a class action lawsuit: Joining all class members together is impossible because there are so many members of the class Questions of law or fact exist which are common to the class The representative parties’ defenses or claims are typical of the defenses or claims of the class The interests of the class will be fairly and adequately protected by the representative parties Those who are given the option to join class actions are typically asked to legally commit to not taking further legal action against the defendant(s). Class action lawsuit outcomes apply to anyone the ruling applies to, even if they weren’t directly involved in the filing. Class action lawsuit compensation can be very small since it is often divided between many people.