G. Proving Aggregate Monetary Damages on a Class-wide Basis

• Library: South Carolina Damages (SCBar) (2009 Ed.)

G. Proving Aggregate Monetary Damages on a Class-Wide Basis

Class action litigation is intended to provide a means for the unitary disposition of numerous claims - claims that sometimes number into the thousands, or in some cases, tens of thousands. In order for a class to exist, the requisite elements of commonality and typicality have been predetermined to exist by a judge prior to damages being considered.²³ In deciding whether class treatment is appropriate, courts will occasionally discuss the complexity of calculating and distributing a damage award should the plaintiff ultimately prevail. As stated by Judge Goodstein in Middleton v. SunStar Acceptance Corp.,²⁴

Because the principal issues requiring a determination are the adequacy, vel non, of the form and, in the event Plaintiff prevails on that issue, the appropriate method of calculating damages, it is manifest that common questions of

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