Types of class action lawsuits, with real examples

These are the most familiar class actions: a product label says "natural," "made in the USA," or "clinically proven," and plaintiffs allege it is not true; a store's shelf price is lower than the register price; a subscription is hard to cancel. Claims usually rest on state consumer protection statutes, such as California's Unfair Competition Law, plus warranty and unjust enrichment theories.

Payouts are usually a refund-sized amount per person. Examples include the Dollar General shelf price settlement, the fake sale pricing lawsuits, and deodorant false advertising claims. Many of these cases are dismissed early, which is why our lawsuit pages report dismissals as well as settlements. In its 2019 study of 149 consumer class settlements, the FTC found that half paid a median of $69 or more per claimant.

When a company exposes customer data or shares it with advertisers without consent, class actions often follow within days. Data breach cases usually allege negligence and state privacy laws; tracking and sharing cases often invoke wiretap laws, the Video Privacy Protection Act, or Illinois's biometric privacy law.

Settlements often combine small cash payments, reimbursement for documented losses, and credit monitoring. Examples: the Labcorp data breach settlement, the Flo Health data sharing settlement, and BIPA biometric privacy lawsuits. According to the JPML, 20 data breach and consumer privacy MDLs were pending on December 31, 2025, 13% of all pending MDLs. See how much a data breach settlement is worth.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is one of the biggest sources of class actions because it sets a fixed dollar amount per violation. Under 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3), a person can recover $500 for each violating call or text, and a court may increase that to as much as three times the amount for willful or knowing violations. A company that sent thousands of unlawful texts faces exposure that grows with every message.

See robocall lawsuits, spam text lawsuits, and the Momentum Solar calls settlement. Our guide on how much you can get from a TCPA lawsuit covers the math.

Credit bureaus, lenders, debt collectors, and banks are frequent class action defendants. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per consumer for willful violations, and bank fee cases challenge overdraft and non-sufficient funds charges under account contracts.

Examples: the TransUnion inaccurate credit report settlement, the overdraft and NSF fee lawsuits, and the Wells Fargo CARES Act settlement. The Supreme Court's 2021 decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez limited these cases by holding that class members must show a concrete harm, such as a false report actually sent to a lender, to recover damages.

Antitrust class actions allege that companies conspired to raise prices or used monopoly power to overcharge buyers. Section 4 of the Clayton Act lets a person injured by an antitrust violation recover three times their damages plus attorney's fees, so these cases can produce large funds. Antitrust was the second-largest category of pending MDLs at the end of 2025, with 36 MDLs, or 23% of the total, according to the JPML.

Examples: the beef price-fixing settlement, the RealPage rent pricing settlements, and the NAR real estate commission settlements. Consumers who bought indirectly, such as grocery shoppers rather than wholesalers, usually recover under state laws in separate "indirect purchaser" classes.

Securities fraud. Shareholder class actions allege that a company misled investors and the stock dropped when the truth came out. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act sets special rules. Within 20 days of filing, plaintiffs must publish a notice, and any class member may move to be appointed lead plaintiff within 60 days after that notice. The law presumes the most adequate lead plaintiff is the one with the largest financial interest in the relief sought.

Employment and wage cases. Unpaid overtime and misclassification claims often proceed as "collective actions" under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which work differently from Rule 23 classes: no employee is a party to an FLSA collective action unless they consent in writing and that consent is filed with the court. State wage claims can proceed as regular opt-out classes alongside them. See unpaid overtime lawsuits and California wage and hour claims.

Product defects. Owners of cars and appliances with a common defect sue for repair costs and lost value, often under warranty law and the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Examples include Subaru battery drain and LG refrigerator cases.

Civil rights. Discrimination and policy challenges often seek court orders rather than money and are certified under Rule 23(b)(2). The Supreme Court's 2011 Wal-Mart v. Dukes decision, which reversed certification of a class of about 1.5 million female employees, raised the bar for proving common questions in these cases.

Start with what happened to you, not the legal label:

• You paid too much or got less than promised: consumer protection, antitrust, or banking fee case.
• Your data was exposed or shared: data breach or privacy case. See what to do after a data breach notice.
• You got calls or texts you did not agree to: TCPA case.
• Your credit report is wrong or a collector harassed you: FCRA or FDCPA case, often individual.
• You were not paid correctly at work: wage and hour case.
• You were physically hurt: individual injury claim or mass tort, not a class action.

Products liability made up 61 of the MDLs pending at the end of 2025, 38% of the total, which reflects how often injury claims proceed outside class actions.

Browse lawsuits attorneys are investigating or pursuing and open settlements, or get a free case review, which takes about two minutes and connects you with independent attorneys who handle these cases.