Class Actions – Class Action Lawsuits
Lawsuit where one to several people represent the interests of a group of people

Class Actions & Class Action Lawsuits

Class actions and the Class Action lawsuits we all receive postcards about, are a type of lawsuit where one to several people represent the interests of a group of people. Employees typically bring class action lawsuits on behalf of themselves and other employees who worked for the same employer, during roughly the same time, and who endured the same type of treatment. A common example is one employee, who worked for a company, filing a lawsuit on behalf of himself or herself and all the other employees who were denied their lunch or rest breaks, or who were not provided overtime, or who were made to work off the clock, or who were not provided minimum wage…actually there are a lot of different ways big, bad businesses, screw their employees.

Class actions are more efficient than multiple lawsuits all being filed, and all arguing the same thing. Instead of multiple lawsuits, the Courts can coordinate a few. Class actions also overcome the problem that smaller recoveries do not provide enough incentive for any individual to bring a solo action prosecuting his or her rights.

In other words, a class action ensures that a defendant who engaged in widespread harm but does so minimally against each individual plaintiff, is held to task and required to compensate all of those harmed for their injuries.

In a world where the deck is stacked against regular people, class actions help level the playing field. There is a reason big business groups are constantly attacking class actions. They are afraid. They know that class and collective actions require them to compensate everyone for their wrongdoing. They would just assume continue screwing people over.

Big business groups tout the big fees that attorneys get. But, they don’t make much mention of the big settlements that big businesses pay out to the people they have wronged. They try to focus people on the “coupon” settlements. These are settlements that didn’t net class members much more than a coupon for a service or a small check. They claim class actions aren’t fair. Well, a judge somewhere determined that the settlement was fair. That’s the only way a class action gets approved.

We’ve all gotten those checks for $3.58 in the mail because we were a part of a class of consumers who had been wronged by some big, bad corporation when we probably didn’t even know it. Without class actions we wouldn’t have received anything and Big Bad Corporation wouldn’t have had to pay anything because no one is going to bother suing a company for $3.58.

When we take on a class action we’re committing to representing the class of people who have been harmed. We require our clients to pledge they are committing to representing the class of who have been harmed. We all agree that we’ll put our personal interests aside, in order to be champions for a class of people who wouldn’t otherwise have a voice.

We didn’t build our reputation by getting our clients coupons. We built our reputation by fighting for settlements that fairly compensated our clients for the wrong that was done to them. That typically means fighting with defendants with deep pockets, their high priced legal teams, and bottom-feeding plaintiffs’ lawyers who are happy to work with defendants to make sure they get a settlement where they get paid, regardless of what it means to their clients. We don’t play that way…and our results show it. Our clients get real money, or we don’t get paid at all.