Glossary

Absent Class Member

Class members not named in the class action complaint who may join the lawsuit during litigation or after settlement.

Adequacy

A legal term describing whether lead counsel and lead plaintiffs possess the means to represent the settlement class’ interests properly.

Automated Opt-Outs

An automated and interactive method or means for consumers to withdraw their consent to telemarketer calling or robocalling immediately.

Automatic Dialing Systems (Robocalls)

An automated pre-recorded voice phone message, fax or text message delivered by a computer to a consumer’s landline, cell phone or fax machine.

Calls to Cellular Lines

Telemarketers, vendors and bill collectors may not send automated calls, pre-recorded messages or text messages to any business or personal cellular telephone unless the person previously gives the party permission to call; consumers may further revoke consent by notifying parties to stop communicating with their cellular devices.

Calls to Residential Lines

Telemarketers and salespeople may not send pre-recorded business solicitations or messages to residential telephone lines without first building a “business relationship” with consumers; sellers establish these links by having conducted business with the person within the last eighteen months or by having made consented sales inquiries within the last three months.

Certification

A judicial hearing where the courts scrutinize lawsuits to find whether controversies can proceed as class actions.

Certification Notice

A court ordered document that informs class members of their potential eligibility to join class action proceedings and advises on the rights and responsibilities of the settlement class.

Claim Rejection

Rejection of claim submitted by absent class members, often due to class member ineligibility or due to a failure to prove damages occurred.

Claim Review

Class administrator scrutiny over submitted claims to discover if potential class members are qualified to share in settlement awards.

Class Member

A single person or entity who belongs to a specific settlement class certified by the courts in class action lawsuits.

Class Period

A specific period in which corporate defendants commit securities fraud as alleged by investors named in securities class action lawsuits.

Common Fund Class

A cash fund that class administrators use to distribute money awards among class members who file valid claims.

Commonality

A procedural rule that holds settlement class members must hold a shared interest in pursuing interpretations to questions of fact and law established in the lawsuit.

Compensatory Class

A Rule 23(b)(3) procedure where lead attorneys plead money damages for the settlement class.

Consumer Consent

Express written consumer consent with “clear and conspicuous disclosure” that indicates a person agrees to accept future landline, cell phone, text message or fax communications (personal, prerecorded or auto-dialed) from specific telemarketers, debt collectors or sellers.

Consumer Privacy Rights

Telemarketers and debt collectors using auto dialers may only call their consenting consumers between 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m; and callers must offer their name, business name, and callback telephone number during any communication.

Court-Approved Websites

Websites set up by class administrators that serve as a hub for (i) filing electronic claim forms; (ii) informing plaintiffs about class action proceedings; (iii) downloading court and claim documents; and (iv) updating class members about award distribution dates and claim deadlines.

Damages

Cash awards used to pay class members for their loss or injury.

Debt Collection Actions

Communication via phone call, text message or fax with intent to collect a debt; collection activities are not telemarketing calls unless the interaction contains telemarketing messages; therefore, they do not require consumer consent when made to consumer landlines, but do require permission if made to cell phones or facsimiles.

Decertification

A judicial holding that reverses a previous court’s certification, striking down any further class action proceedings surrounding the controversy.

Declaratory Judgment Class

A motion to the court to establish the settlement class’ rights and obligations.
 

Do Not Call Registry

A national register compiled by the FCC containing consumer landline, cell phone and fax numbers that prohibit telemarketing solicitations.
 

Do-Not-Call Lists

Database registries complied by businesses containing non-consenting consumer landline, cell phone and fax numbers.
 

Economic Injury

Money or property loss due to alleged violations of federal or state securities laws.
 

Equitable Relief Settlement Class

Settlement classes who file for injunctive relief by petitioning the courts to order specific performance on a defendant or to restrain the defendant from performing certain acts.
 

Exclusion Request

Motions to the courts from class members requesting removal from class action participation; excluded class members lose all rights to pursue future legal relief—exclusion is not the same as opting out of class action lawsuits.
 

Failure to Disclose

A legal term used when people or corporations conceal or withhold important information from financial statements or hide material business dealings from investors leading to intentional or negligent misrepresentation or fraud.
 

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

An independent US government agency responsible for regulating interstate and international telephone, radio, television, wire, satellite and cable communications.
 

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

An independent US government agency that oversees consumer protection laws and anticompetitive business practices.
 

Financial Statements

Yearly and quarterly written public records that reveal a corporation’s financial activities and business dealings.
 

FRCP Rule 23(a)

Prerequisite procedure rules for settlement class certification where lead counsel proves (i) numerosity; (ii) commonality; (iii) typicality; and (iv) adequacy in class action lawsuits.
 

Intervene

Absent class members who petition the court to become named plaintiffs in lawsuits.
 

Lead Plaintiff(s)

The person or people in the class action named as the plaintiff(s) who brought the complaint and sought class certification.
 

Lodestar

Court–approved attorney fee and expense reimbursements made by class administrators to lead counsel.
 

Misleading Statements

Intentionally or deliberately disclosing false or misleading information on financial statements that often results in damages to investors, creditors, and company employees.
 

Numerosity

Evidence that shows the courts the settlement class is so numerous it would be impracticable for the courts to hear each lawsuit separately.
 

Objector

A class member who challenges all or part of a proposed class action settlement.
 

Omissions

A failure to act or disclose information when lawfully compelled to do so.
 

Opt-Out

A class member’s motion to the court to remove himself from proceedings, often to retain rights to sue the defendant individually; class administrators will exclude opt-out members from taking part in settlements or favorable judgments.
 

Prerecorded Voice Message

A human voice recorded message used to contact consumers.
 

Publication

Publishings or ads in newspapers, television or radio, in media or through the Internet of class action settlement notices by administrators to potential class members.
 

Securities

A liquid and negotiable financial instrument with monetary value that represents an ownership position in a publicly traded corporation.
 

Securities Class Action Lawsuit

A class action lawsuit filed by victims of securities fraud who suffered similar economic injuries from the same defendant(s).
 

Securities Law

Federal and state statutes that regulate securities transactions and other exchange dealings, governed predominantly by the SEC.
 

Settlement Class

A class of plaintiffs certified by a judge to take part in a class action lawsuit of whom satisfy all the prerequisites of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP)—Rule 23(a).
 

Shareholder

An individual, business, or financial institution that holds an interest in a corporation through purchases of company stock.
 

TCPA Lawsuits

Civil actions against businesses for TCPA violations that seek remedies for (i) up to $500 for each Do-Not-Call registry breach; (ii) up to $500 per TCPA landline, cell phone or facsimile violation; or, (iii) up to $1,500 for deliberate and willful TCPA abuse.
 

Telephone Marketers

A direct marketing practice where sales people or robocallers call landlines, cell phones or use text message or facsimiles to solicit prospective customers to purchase their products or services.
 

Typicality

A procedural rule that shows each settlement class member damage complaint accurately mirrors that of another plaintiff.
 

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

An independent US government agency responsible for enforcing federal securities laws and for monitoring corporate security trading on US stock and options exchanges.
 

Unsolicited Faxes

Spam or Junk telemarketing faxes of advertisements or sales promotions
 

What Is Mass Torts?

mass torts is a civil action involving numerous individual plaintiffs against one or a few defendants in state or federal court.