Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Can five plaintiffs file a lawsuit together?

Multiple plaintiffs can file a single lawsuit, but only where their claims arise from the same set of facts. Since you say the five potential plaintiffs were each cheated under different circumstances, five separate lawsuits would probably be more appropriate.

Re: Can five plaintiffs file a lawsuit together?

Basis answer is Yes, you can. However, depending on your individual facts and circumsances (similarities and dissimilarities) the court may separate them into separate actions. The only way to find out for certain is to try (even if technically they should be separated, the defendant may not ask for it and therefore the judge may just ignore that possibility).

Re: Can five plaintiffs file a lawsuit together?

Yes, Good idea. Contact me directly.

Re: Can five plaintiffs file a lawsuit together?

You can, but should not unless there is a firm agreement among the 5 of you as to (a) how to share the fees and costs of litigation, and (b) how to divide any recoveries. Otherwise, with 5 of you each having a separate claim arising under different facts, the 5 of you would be competing with each other to recover from the same asset pool, which would create a conflict of interest for a single lawyer to handle. Also, any lawyer agreeing to represent all five of you under a fee/recovery sharing agreement must advise each of you of your right to seek independent legal counsel.

Re: Can five plaintiffs file a lawsuit together?

You can, but should not unless there is a firm agreement among the 5 of you as to (a) how to share the fees and costs of litigation, and (b) how to divide any recoveries. Otherwise, with 5 of you each having a separate claim arising under different facts, the 5 of you would be competing with each other to recover from the same asset pool, which would create a conflict of interest for a single lawyer to handle. Also, any lawyer agreeing to represent all five of you under a fee/recovery sharing agreement must advise each of you of your right to seek independent legal counsel.