It also allows the companies to drop out, if so many women decide not to accept the settlement but sue separately that the companies find themselves still facing an enormous number of individual lawsuits.

Another client separately sued Wasendorf as well as other company executives in Chicago.

Eight states, the City of New York, and three land trusts, separately sued the same electric power corporations that owned and operated fossil-fuel-fired power plants in twenty states.

Shareholders and Cendant are separately suing Ernst & Young, the company's former accountant.

In 1997, Amway Poland and Network TwentyOne separately sued the makers of a Polish film Welcome to Life for defamation and copyright violations.

Adding to the sting, some investors in the same fund who sued separately came away with far more money - sometimes more than 100 percent of their investment, plus interest and legal fees.

In late 2005 the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers separately sued Google, citing "massive copyright infringement."

Mr. Mitchelson sought damages of $250,000 for his client; the other Mississippians sued separately.

The decision will determine whether the suit continues as a class action; an alternative would be for plaintiffs to sue separately.

CNet does not plan to join their lawsuit, but said that it might sue separately.