How is the class of plaintiffs identified and certified?

In order for a class action lawsuit to be certified in Alaska, the court must review the proposed class of plaintiffs to make sure it meets the requirements established by the Alaska Supreme Court. The court must determine whether the class is large enough to create a situation where individual claims would be impractical or overly expensive to pursue. The court will also consider whether there is a common set of facts and issues that bind the class together. Once the plaintiffs’ class is identified, the court must also certify the class. In order to do this, the court must determine that the class representative has an injury and interests that are typical of the claims of the class as a whole. The representative must also be a fair and adequate representative of the class and have a lawyer that is adequately representing the interests of the class. To be certified, the plaintiffs must also show that common issues of law or fact predominate and that the class action is the superior method for resolution of the claims. The court will also consider factors such as the class size, the amount of money at stake, and the potential for repeating the lawsuit. Finally, the court may dismiss the class action lawsuit if the defendants can show that individual issues predominate and that the case would be better resolved through individual claims. The court may also dismiss the class action if the claims are not sufficiently similar among the class members, or if the class representative does not represent the interests of the other class members adequately.

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How is the class of plaintiffs identified and certified?

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