Class actions are lawsuits brought by a representative member(s) of a large group of persons on behalf of all the members of the group who have suffered identical or similar harm for which the same defendant may be liable -- such as a defective product class action against a manufacturer or an employment discrimination class action against a large company.
Clarksville is both the name of an unincorporated community and the name associated with District 5 in Howard County in the U.S. state of Maryland. The United States Census Bureau uses the district as a county subdivision for statistical purposes. The community is named for William Clark, a farmer who owned much of the land on which the community now lies. According to the Howard County Economic Development Authority, the community of Clarksville had a population of 16,593 as of 2007. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Clarksville District 5 had a population of 56,239 in the 2000 census. The village of River Hill is contained within Clarksville, the newest addition to the planned community of Columbia. Clarksville's public schools, part of the Howard County public school system, are among the highest-ranked in the nation and often have significantly higher funding than competing private and charter schools. Some of the most expensive homes on the East Coast are located in or around the town, whose property values are among the highest in the country. The area is located southwest of Baltimore and north of Washington, D.C. , and many residents of Clarksville commute to work in one of these two cities or their close-in suburbs.