The answer is more than likely: “You Can’t”

Although this is no doubt going to infuriate you – just as it did me, back when I found out the same thing – there’s a good chance you won’t be able to file a Class Action Lawsuit at all.

Check the contract you signed. Read it. Check for a section labeled “Disputes,” “Resolution of Disputes,” or even “Arbitration” – if you find something along these lines, chances are the company has limited your legal recourse using an Arbitration Clause.

Arbitration Clauses appear in more and more contracts and End User License Agreements (EULAs) each year, because they tend to be very good for the company and very bad for you, the consumer. Basically, arbitration clauses require you to take any future disagreements, problems, or (generally) “disputes” you might have with the company to private arbitration; whereas you would normally have the option to sue and take the company to court, such a clause signs away this right.

If you find yourself at odds with the company, you must initiate the arbitration process, instead – and, generally, there’s an expense associated with initiating the process, usually in the hundreds of dollars. Whereas such an amount is nothing for a large company, usually this amount is enough to prevent the average person from pursuing any such action.

While you might not be able to pursue a Class Action lawsuit, you do have a few alternatives:

1. Seek out a Lawyer initiating a Mass Arbitration Action: as we discuss on our Helpers page, perform searches online with the name of the company and “Mass Arbitration” to see if any lawyers are pursuing a Mass Arbitration action you can join. This will likely be the closest thing to a Class Action lawsuit available to you, and if the lawyer is good enough, they will soon have the company begging to move to a Class Action structure.
   
2. Start filing complaints with Regulators: if you have already, visit our Regulators page and file some complaints with the appropriate Federal and/or State regulator(s).
   
3. Take Direct Action: visit our Actions page for both some quick tactics you can use immediately or some longer-term strategies you can build up over time, such as…
   
4. Start A Complaint Website: a specific and devastating way to take direct action is by creating a complaint website intended to organize and inform fellow and prospective victims of the same company; for more information on doing so, visit our Create A Complaint Website guide.

If you are one of the lucky few who did not sign a contract or accept an agreement which contained an Arbitration Clause, there’s almost certainly already a class action lawsuit in-process: therefore, open up a new tab and search Google, Bing, or your preferred search engine for “class action [company name]” and join using the sign-up page you will likely find in the first or second page of results.

For those of you who have a War Story to share, or a great Mass Arbitration Lawyer to recommend, be sure to do so in our Community forums!