Editing Class action (section)

{{Short description|Type of lawsuit}}
{{About|the legal term||Class Action (disambiguation){{!}}Class Action}}
{{tort law}}
A '''class action''',{{efn|The proper term used by specialists in complex litigation is '''class action''', which replaced the historical term '''class suit''' after the merger of common law and [[Equity (law)|equity]] courts.  "Class action lawsuit" and "class action suit" are [[pleonasm]]s used by laypersons unfamiliar with the critical distinction between the legal terms of art "action" and "suit" (which traditionally refer, respectively, to legal proceedings at common law and in equity).  Thus, [[Bryan A. Garner]] has criticized "class action suit" as "wordy".<ref name="Garner_Page_162">{{cite book |last1=Garner |first1=Bryan A. |title=Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780195384208 |page=162 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O1m1bI5vCooC&pg=PA162 |access-date=May 5, 2024}}</ref>}} also known as a '''class action lawsuit''', '''class suit''', or '''representative action''', is a type of [[lawsuit]] where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action originated in the United States and is still predominantly an American phenomenon, but Canada, as well as several European countries with [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]], have made changes in recent years to allow [[consumer organization]]s to bring claims on behalf of consumers.
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