Collective actions (or class actions) are a legal tool that allow 30 people or more (hence the name “collective”) to file a single lawsuit against goods and services providers (either public or private entities) to dispute consumer relationships. It also allows the defense of the environment.

The benefits and risks of class actions is:

• It balances the scale between providers and consumers.
• It reduces the cost of going to trial to a minimum.
• The judgments benefit people that are in the same situation as the plaintiff, even if they were initially part of the procedure.
• A sentence in class actions can easily bankrupt a company of any size.