Obviously if the suit gains class action status it becomes a much bigger pain for Apple.
Under federal law, the standards to gain class-action status when seeking injunctive relief are considerably lower than for back-pay claims.
Lawyers have sued Wal-Mart in more than three dozen states, seeking to gain class-action status in asserting that the company squeezes tens of millions of dollars of free work out of its employees each year by pressuring or encouraging them to work off the clock.
Goldman denied the charges and is still fighting the plaintiffs' attempt to gain the court's permission to bring a class action.
That would subvert a primary aim of tort cases making victims whole because a plaintiff sharing in the lawyers' cut would, in effect, be gaining at the expense of his fellows in the class action.
Another crucial weapon in a diminishing arsenal -- the class action lawsuit -- has been effectively blunted, even as corporate employers gain new powers.
A class action lawsuit, combining several people into one case, would have gained economies of scale in terms of legal costs, and that could have meant a stronger recovery payout for the group.
Some have sought and gained injunctions to prevent their removal back to offshore detention centres and a number have joined a major class action negligence action led by Maurice Blackburn lawyers.
Former UCLA basketball star, Ed O'Bannon has filed an antitrust class action against the NCAA over its use of his and other players' likenesses for colleges' own financial gain.
And another case (a class action lawsuit against national governmental entities similar to the one in the Netherlands) filed in 2011 has failed to gain substantial traction.
Shareholders filed class action lawsuits, claiming mismanagement.
