[20180307]LSB10091_提起集体诉讼应该有多难？.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i How Hard Should It Be To Bring a Class Action? March 7, 2018 As Judge Richard Posner observed in a 2014 opinion, “the class action is an ingenious procedural innovation that enables persons who have suffered a wrongful injury . . . to obtain relief as a group.” In that same opinion, however, Judge Posner also noted that class actions are potentially susceptible to abuse by plaintiffs and their attorneys, who may act to the detriment not only of the defendants, but also of the class members whose interests the plaintiffs purport to represent. To curb such abuses, many courts have prohibited plaintiffs from pursuing a class action unless the plaintiff first proves that the proposed class is “ascertainable”that is, that “the members of the proposed class” are “readily identifiable.” Courts disagree, however, over what “ascertainability” means. In particular, the U.S. Courts of Appeals have divided regarding whether a plaintiff must satisfy a separate “administrative feasibility” requirement in order to prove that a proposed class is ascertainable. Because defendants have successfully invok