class action(1. in company law, an action by or on behalf of shareholders of a company. 2. generally, an action by one or more nominal plaintiffs for others. The idea is long established in the USA but is not yet widespread in the UK, where often a case is selected as a test case or a lead case and other similar cases are settled on the same basis. The practice of the legal aid Board facilitates a group approach in certain cases, such as disaster cases or pharmaceutical cases. CDL Alexander Demidov)
class action(especially AmE) Law ) a type of court case in which one person or a small group of people make a claim on behalf of a larger group of people who have the same legal problem: Hundreds of class actions have been filed against the investment bank. • a class action lawsuit brought by consumers. OBED Alexander Demidov)