Rule 23.Class actions

A class action lets a small number of named plaintiffs stand in for a much larger group of people with similar claims. Rule 23 doesn't let that happen automatically — it requires the class to clear four hurdles first. The class has to be so large that joining everyone individually would be impracticable. There has to be at least one question of law or fact common to the whole class. The claims or defenses of the representative plaintiffs have to be typical of the class as a whole, not some outlier situation. And the representatives, along with their lawyers, have to be capable of adequately protecting everyone else's interests.

Clearing those four hurdles isn't enough by itself — the case also has to fit one of three categories. The first covers situations where separate lawsuits would risk inconsistent rulings that leave the defendant with conflicting obligations, or where a ruling in one person's case would effectively decide the outcome for everyone else in the class. The second covers cases seeking injunctive or declaratory relief, where the party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds that apply across the whole class. The third — the type most people picture when they hear 'class action' — requires that common questions predominate over individual ones, and that a class action is the best available way to resolve the dispute, taking into account how much individual class members want control over their own case, how much related litigation already exists, whether concentrating everything in one court makes sense, and how hard the class action would be to manage.

For that third category, Rule 23 requires the best notice practicable to the class, including individual notice to anyone who can be identified without unreasonable effort. The notice has to tell class members they can opt out by a set date, that the judgment binds everyone who doesn't opt out, and that they can appear through their own lawyer if they want. Certification orders can be conditional and revised before the case is decided, cases can be split by issue or into subclasses, and a certified class action can't be dismissed or settled without court approval and notice to the class.

Rule 23(f) addresses a problem specific to consumer and similar class settlements: money set aside for the class that nobody claims. Once the claims process runs its course and money is still left over, at least fifty percent of those residual funds must go to the Legal Foundation of Washington, which funds programs that give low-income Washington residents access to the civil justice system. A court can send the remaining share to the Legal Foundation as well, or to another organization whose work connects to the underlying case — but nothing in the rule forces a settlement to create residual funds in the first place; parties can structure a settlement so there's nothing left over to distribute.