Id.īecause when strictly enforced, the necessary parties rule “would at times unfairly deny recovery to the party before the court, equity developed exceptions, among them one to cover situations where the parties are very numerous, and the court perceives, that it will be almost impossible to bring them all before the court or where the question is of general interest, and a few may sue for the benefit of the whole or where the parties form a part of a voluntary association for public or private purposes, and may be fairly supposed to represent the rights and interests of the whole.'” Ortiz, at 832-33 (citations omitted). As Justice Story explained: The reason is that the court may be enabled to make a complete decree between the parties, may prevent future litigation by taking away the necessity of a multiplicity of suits, and may make it perfectly certain, that no injustice shall be done, either to the parties before the court, or to others, who are interested by a decree, that may be grounded upon a partial view only of the real merits. The “usual rule” referenced in Califano is more commonly referred to as the “necessary parties rule,” and it required that “all persons materially interested, either as plaintiffs or defendants in the subject matter of the bill ought to be made parties to the suit, however numerous they may be.” West v. Class actions, however, are more a recent invention, created by English courts sitting in equity as “an exception to the usual rule that litigation is conducted by and on behalf of the individual named parties only.” Califano v. Historically, various types of so-called “representative actions” have existed “since the earliest days of English law.” Ortiz v. Put simply, the device allows courts to manage lawsuits that would otherwise be unmanageable if each class member (individuals who have suffered the same wrong at the hands of the defendant) were required to be joined in the lawsuit as a named plaintiff.
A class action is a procedural device that permits one or more plaintiffs to file and prosecute a lawsuit on behalf of a larger group, or "class".
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