Class And Collective Actions

A class action is a suit that is brought by one person or a small number of people on behalf of a much larger group who are all in the same situation. A collective action describes a particular type of action that may be brought under the Fair Labor Standard Act by a group of employees and former employees for unpaid wages. Cohn Lifland Pearlman Herrmann & Knopf LLP is one of the few firms in New Jersey that actively represents people in class & collective actions, having done so for over 50 years.

Without class and collective actions, wrongdoers would be able to do enormous harm, reaping millions of dollars in illegal profit by cheating tens of thousands of people a few dollars at a time. Those who commit such frauds and create such schemes know it is far too expensive for one person or group of people to bring their own individual action when the loss is small.  Through a class or collective action, courts can address thousands of separate individuals’ claims in one case. It is only through these cases that those who are cheated in a massive stock fraud, Ponzi scheme or other type of consumer fraud can band together and bring a lawsuit to fight for their shared interest.

We have represented plaintiffs in shareholder/derivative claims, price-fixing antitrust claims, employment claims, and all manners of consumer claims, as well as in other areas. Over the course of that time, we have helped hundreds of thousands of people across the nation. 

In addition, Cohn Lifland has a history of providing legal services to governmental entities in securities cases.  For example, from 2009 to 2014, the firm represented the New Jersey Department of Treasury, Division of Investment in a litigation concerning the purchase of $300 million of preferred Merrill Lynch stock.  The Firm also has, for the past fourteen years, represented the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Administrator of the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund.  In that capacity, the Firm has been appointed Special Counsel to the Attorney General in approximately 20 litigations related to natural resources damages and has recovered over $350 million for the State.

Many members of our firm are recognized experts in their particular areas of practice and have written, lectured, and taught regularly.  Articles authored by firm members have been published in leading legal publications and repeatedly cited in reported decisions including those of the New Jersey Supreme Court.  Cohn Lifland is consulted frequently by other members of the bar throughout the United States and the Firm acts as counsel in New Jersey to more than 100 leading law firms and practitioners both from within and without the state.