25,000 named plaintiffs? Really?
No competent lawyer who is experienced in class actions would file a class action with 25,000 named plaintiffs. 25 would be a lot. 25,000 is a joke.
Class actions are usually filed by a handful of named plaintiffs. You want more than one named plaintiff in case one or more get dropped during the course of the lawsuit. The named plaintiffs must prove all of the legal requirements/elements for a class action lawsuit. For instance, their claims must be typical of the class. They have to prove actual damages, not hypothetical damages. There are other requirements as well. Read the rules of civil procedure for Tenn.
The purpose of a class action is to make it easier to adjudicate the claims of a large group of people, the class. A lawsuit with 25,000 named plaintiffs defeats that purpose. If this lawsuit really has 25,000 named plaintiffs, don’t be surprised when it is dismissed again and again in spite of plaintiffs’ counsel’s forum shopping (filing in different courts to obtain a “favorable” judge).
Thanks for your input. It’s just my impression that as much as anything else this suit was designed to make a statement. Maybe they were hoping for 100,000 or even a million plaintiffs; I dunno. The man that brought the suit, Van Irion, is a Constitutional lawyer that coincidentally had his eye on a congressional seat in Tennessee. It’s possible it may have also been a devise to create some noise for himself. Again, I dunno.