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NY Beggars Granted Class Action Status
Law Center |
2007/07/26 03:34
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A U.S. District Court Judge dismissed on Wednesday the arguments by New York City lawyers and granted six panhandlers to proceed with a class action against the state and local law-enforcement agencies accused of making thousands of illegal arrests under a defunct law.
Class action status means thousands of state's panhandlers with a similar complaint can join the suit and could be included in any monetary judgment.Judge Shira Scheindlin said that granting class action status was the only way to stop the state-wide enforcement of an anti-begging law that was ruled unconstitutional in 1992, but since then has been used in over 10,000 arrests and prosecutions across the entire state. "We're looking forward to putting an end to this practice," said Matthew Brinckerhoff, the beggars' lawyer. The city lawyers had contended that the plaintiffs were unfit to represent such a large group in a class action suit, due to mental illness and drug addiction. |
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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