How to join a class action lawsuit

A class action is defined by who fits the description, not by who signs up. When a judge certifies a class or approves a settlement, the order spells out the class: for example, everyone in the United States who bought a certain product during a certain class period. Everyone who meets that description is a class member.

That is by design. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(c)(2)(B) requires the court to direct to class members the best notice that is practicable, including individual notice to all members who can be identified through reasonable effort. The system is built to find you, not the other way around. If you do nothing, you remain in the class and are bound by the result.

So when people search for how to join a class action, what they almost always need is one of three things: how to file a settlement claim, how to make sure they are counted in a pending case, or how to get their own case started. The sections below cover each.

This is the only way to get paid in most settlements. Being a class member is not enough. In the Apple Siri privacy settlement, the official website stated that submitting a valid claim form was "the only way to get a payment." The same is true of most consumer settlements.

1. Find the official website. It is named in the settlement notice and run by the court-appointed administrator. Our open settlements list links to each one.
2. Check the class definition and deadline. The notice lists who qualifies, the class period, and the claim deadline.
3. Use your notice codes if you have them. Many notices include a claim ID and PIN, but you can often still file without one.
4. Submit the form. Answer truthfully. Most forms are signed under penalty of perjury.

Our step-by-step guide on how to file a class action settlement claim walks through the form itself. Filing a claim keeps you in the class, so you give up the right to sue separately over the same claims.

Before a settlement or certification, you are what lawyers call a putative class member: someone who would be in the class if the court certifies it. You do not need to register. What helps you later is evidence that you fit the class:

• Receipts, order confirmations, or card statements showing the purchase
• Account statements showing the fee or charge at issue
• The breach notification letter or email you received
• Screenshots or call logs of unwanted calls and texts
• The product itself, if it is defective, and its packaging

You can also contact the law firm listed on the complaint. Firms often keep lists of affected people and may ask some of them to share information. Contacting a firm does not make you a named plaintiff, and it is not required to receive a payment later.

One timing point matters. Under American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah (1974), filing a class action suspends the statute of limitations for all asserted class members. That protection has limits, so if you are thinking about your own lawsuit, talk to a lawyer rather than waiting for the class case to end.

Every class action starts with someone who contacted a lawyer. If a company harmed you and many others in the same way, and no case has been filed, a lawyer may want to hear from you. If the facts are strong, you might be asked to serve as the lead plaintiff or class representative.

That role carries real duties. Rule 23(a)(4) requires that class representatives fairly and adequately protect the interests of the whole class. Representatives typically answer written questions, provide documents, may sit for a deposition, and must put the class's interests ahead of their own. Courts often approve a modest incentive award for that work when a case settles, but the court decides whether to award one and how much.

Our guide on how to start a class action lawsuit covers this route. Many potential claims also run into an arbitration clause in the company's terms of service, which can block a class case entirely.

Personal injury cases over medications, medical devices, and toxic exposures rarely proceed as class actions, because each person's injuries, medical history, and damages are different. Instead, each person files an individual lawsuit, and federal cases are often grouped for pretrial purposes in multidistrict litigation.

In a mass tort, nobody is included automatically. If you do not file your own claim before your state's deadline, you generally cannot recover anything, even if thousands of other people settle. Examples include the hair relaxer cancer litigation, the Ozempic lawsuits, and the Roundup cancer cases. See class action vs mass tort for how the two paths differ.

If you are not sure which box you are in, or you think your losses are larger than a typical class payout, a free case review takes about two minutes and connects you with independent attorneys who handle these cases. You can also browse lawsuits attorneys are investigating now, including data breach and robocall cases.