Class action or mass tort, and why some cases sign you up one at a time
Last checked August 30, 2026
A class action resolves one lawsuit for everyone in a defined group at once. A mass tort or arbitration program files a separate claim for each person. That difference decides whether you fill in a short claim form with an administrator or a longer intake with a law firm that then represents you individually.
Both kinds appear on this site. The Allina Health pixel settlement covers 2,531,323 people from one $12.5 million fund with one claim form. The Mercor data breach intake sends each contractor into an individual arbitration through JAMS. The Roblox and talcum powder listings are injury intakes where every family or patient has a separate case.
How a class action works
A few named plaintiffs sue on behalf of everyone with the same complaint. If the court certifies the class and the parties settle, a judge approves the deal, an administrator sends notices, and each class member files a claim or, in some cases, is paid automatically. Guitar Center's California wage settlement pays every non-exempt employee from the class period with no form at all.
Payouts are usually modest because the fund is split across everyone. Penn Medicine's patient portal settlement caps each claim at $15 across roughly 756,723 people. In exchange, nobody needs a lawyer, nobody pays anything, and the process runs on a published schedule.
How an individual claim works
Some harms differ too much from person to person for one class. A cancer diagnosis after talcum powder use, a child's experience on Snapchat, a catheter fracture, an assault in a rideshare: each turns on records, dates, and damages unique to that person. Courts often group these cases for pretrial handling in a multidistrict litigation, but each plaintiff keeps their own lawsuit and their own lawyer.
Consumer arbitration claims sit in the same family. Labaton Keller Sucharow handles the Adobe, StubHub and NBA app matters as individual arbitration claims, filed one at a time for each client it signs. That is why the Adobe intake turns on your state of residence, since the statutory damages the firm cites differ by state.
What signing up individually changes
- A firm signs a representation agreement with you, usually on contingency, and speaks for you in the case.
- Expect to share records, dates, and in injury cases medical history, because your claim stands on its own facts.
- Arbitration claims can resolve in months. Mass tort cases in an MDL can run for years before a global settlement or bellwether trials.
- A neighbor with the same product can recover a different amount, or nothing, depending on their facts.
- Submitting an intake form obligates you to nothing until you sign with the firm.
Which one you are looking at
Check the link on the listing. A settlement site with a claim form and a deadline, such as amcadatabreachsettlement.com for the Labcorp case, means a class action with an administrator. A firm's intake portal, such as lantern.labaton.com or claimshero.com, means individual representation. Both are free to enter.