hey kids - anybody knowledgeable about putting together a class action lawsuit? we have been working with a company that charges exceptional rates and then doesn’t follow through with their promises. we know other clients are experiencing similar problems. just trying to do a little research to see if it’s a possibility.
thanks!
~geek
hey kids - anybody knowledgeable about putting together a class action lawsuit? we have been working with a company that charges exceptional rates and then doesn’t follow through with their promises. we know other clients are experiencing similar problems. just trying to do a little research to see if it’s a possibility.
thanks!
~geek
don’t file suit! its so cliche.
really? i don’t know what to do. i’ve taken complaints to the level of senior vice president and the guy basically said, um, yeah, sorry about all the continued problems. thanks for calling. and keep sending us 25k a month. ba-bye.
the other option we’ve considered is taking out a full page ad in the WSJ.
emotional? yeah, a little.
i just have a thing about attorneys (not a thing for attorneys). don’t really like them or trust them much. btw i think this post might get more replies in tibbs lavender room.
Why are you doing your research on a triathlon forum? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to speak with an attorney? An attorney in a class action case where clients are paying 25k a month is really big, and most attorneys would love to speak with you without charging a thing.
Ive actually clerked for a firm that specializes in class action lawsuits. There are a few ways to go about it. But step number one: find a reputable lawyer in the field. What state are you in? Chances are the bar association in that area could help you out. I don’t mean the field of class actions. Im assuming this is an insurance issue, so find a guy (or gal) that specializes in that field.
In reality, a class action lawsuit often starts out as just a small suit. Then more and more people find out about the suit and join in. Eventually a ‘class’ is identified by a judge and a class action commences. Most class actions start out as Joe Blow v. Big Company, and then more people join in via advertising on TV, the Radio, and Newspapers.
Some advice:
Talk to lawyers in your area, chances are they know of someone that has handled a class action.
Any good, reputable lawyer will do, as in theory, a class action lawsuit is just a few hundred lawsuits being tried at the same time because the facts are all the same. So don’t think so much in terms of class action, instead try to focus on what the company is doing that is so wrong.
Everyone hates attorneys until they need one.
'cause triathletes are smarter than most folks. 
seriously, i don’t know where to go with it, so i thought i’d throw it out. i know there are a lot of regular attorneys on this forum.
i do have some great attorney contacts, for particular types of cases/contracts, but i would imagine that this type of thing is pretty specialized, so i thought there might be suggestions of where to start. i don’t even know what kind of law it is…probably some kind of tort law? they are not honoring the contracts they signed.
great advice - thanks very much.
the company works nationwide; should i focus on an attorney in the state where their headquarters are based? we actually have a great attorney in that area.
NO! That is not required. If they are nationwide you can file in any state they do business or in federal court. Different states have vastly different laws, as do federal courts, and the outcome can vary greatly just depending on the state you choose to file. Find the best lawyer you can and take the time to talk to him. If hes smart, he will do the research to determine the best state to file in.
If that lawyer in their headquartered state is the one you prefer to do business with, then thats the guy to talk to. Don’t expect an answer from him that day. Chances are he’ll need to get some research done before he can give you an accurrate answer. Good luck. Let me know if you have any more questions.
maybe I can help you out . . . Central Alabama is a great forum for plaintiffs
Stallion1031 is on the right track here.
Why do you want to make it a class action? If it is to save the world, rethink. Your goal should be to obtain a fair resolution of YOUR claims. An attorney letter to the company is more than enough leverage to spark a response. An hysterical letter threatening a class action is less likely to be taken seriously.
To the extent you have attorney contacts that you do business with currently to resolve business disputes, that is the place to start in my mind.
Good luck.
Good advice. Thanks everyone.
Generally class action lawsuits are good for lawyers but not necessarily good for the individual class members. They work great if 100,000 people have each lost $25. You get a coupon in the mail and the lawyers get a couple of hundred grand in fees. Also, class actions tend to drag on forever and you as a classmember have virtually no control over what is going on.
If you have a claim, file on your own.
If you really want to torture the company you mention, get your friends in the industry to do the same. It will actually be alot harder for them to deal with 10 individual suits than one class action.
I disagree. The company would much rather have 10 suits than 1,000. Its a simple theory of potential liability. Its very easy to settle 10 lawsuits for $25,000. It is much more costly to settle 1,000 suits. When you get a lawsuit, you determine how much it will cost to defend vs. how much you will have to pay out. Then you determine how much potential liability exists outside of this one lawsuit. On top of that, 10 suits for $25,000 don’t make the headlines on CNBC. The company has to consider the effect of a suit on its stockholders when determining liability.
Further, you don’t just go file a class action lawsuit. You file a lawsuit. Then others can join in the suit. Then after a while a ‘class’ is identified by a judge. Then if you are part of that ‘class’ you can join in the lawsuit. A class is a subsection of a group. take the group of women that got breast implants. Then narrow it down to the women that got silicon. Then the ‘class’ might be the women that got silicon implants and had health problems attributable to the implants.
And it is wholly untrue that class action lawsuits are good for lawyers and bad for plaintiffs. Yes, lawyers make a lot of money. But what many people fail to realize is the risk many lawyers take on when taking a case on a contingency. A great book is ‘A Class Action’. It was a movie some time ago, but the book is tremendous.
Yes, class actions take a long time. But so do individual lawsuits. In response to losing control over what is going on… you can opt out of the class at any time and file your own separate suit. You are not required to file as part of a class. Generally, if a company is screwing people, the more people they screw, the worse it looks. That is why class actions can be so powerful.
So, the best thing you can do is to find a good lawyer in the field that is at issue. Then if there are others having the same problem, the identification of a class and the proceding to a class action lawsuit will be the next steps.
Like I said earlier, focus on what this company is doing to YOU. If it ammounts to a harm, file a lawsuit. Then, if the same set of facts apply to other people, the proceding to a class action lawsuit may take place. But do not focus on the idea of a class action lawsuit so much as your own lawsuit, you will lose sight of what is really going on.
Class actions are powerful things and are intended to make the court system more efficient by handling factually similar cases at one time. When used wisely, they can empower a plaintiff class well beyond the average case.