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Started By
Message
My 49 cent settlement check shows how worthless most class action lawsuits are
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:36 pm
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:36 pm
quote:
A curious piece of mail recently showed up in my mailbox. It was an unexpected check for 49 cents from a class action settlement. Is this a joke? A scam? A mistake? Naturally, I turned to Google in search of an answer.
Apparently, I was included in a class action lawsuit against AT&T that I didn’t even know about—and I was not alone. There are hundreds of posts all over social media by people across the country who also received these absurd checks.
@JefferyMcLain from Ohio posted a Twitter pic of his check for $0.03 and sarcastically claimed “Victory!” Meanwhile a Virginia Facebook user posted a photo of his $0.54 check with the comment, “Chalk one up for the little guy! 54 cents of pure justice right here!” In another clever quip, @aimclickshoot posted an Instagram photo of her $0.09 check with the comment, “Time to buy the yacht! I just got a settlement check. #moremoneyspentonpostage.”
So how did we all become unwitting participants in this ridiculous lawsuit?
Several years ago a team of enterprising personal injury lawyers sued AT&T alleging it improperly charged its customers sales taxes on internet services and paid them to state and local governments. That’s right. They collected taxes they thought they were legally required to collect and paid them to the appropriate taxing bodies, then they got hit with a massive class action lawsuit. Makes perfect sense right? Only in America.
After several years of litigation, AT&T settled the case—probably because it was cheaper to settle than to defend. But with an estimated value of over $1 billion this class action was no small drop in the bucket for the national wireless provider.
So how did we get from $1 billion to $0.03 checks? While the settlement is being paid out to AT&T customers across the country, court documents show a big chunk of the money has already been eaten up by lawyers and court costs.
With attorney’s fees set at 20 percent of all the refunds recovered, plus a $5,000 incentive award for every class member and full reimbursement of legal costs and expenses, the 92 personal injury lawyers who dreamed up this class action suit stand to make as much as $191 million off the case. That roughly translates to about $2 million per lawyer.
That’s right. The class action resulted in pennies for most class members and nearly $200 million for trial lawyers. And if that isn’t insulting enough, one of the lead attorneys involved in the case had the audacity to describe the deal as an “excellent solution for all parties.”
I beg to differ. From the vantage point of an inadvertent plaintiff, it seems the ridiculous settlement of this unnecessary lawsuit did nothing but further pervert our legal system and unjustly enrich a bunch of trial lawyers at the expense of the people they purported to represent.
###
LINK
Thoughts on this?
Keep in mind the author is part of a non profit group dedicated to fighting lawsuit abuse so there may be a hint of bias but that's why I'm bringing it to this board.
I know trial lawyers are shady as shite but this shady?
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:39 pm to Sentrius
Class action lawsuits are a travesty.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:43 pm to RogerTheShrubber
first thing I thought of
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:47 pm to Sentrius
some TV company had to pay all their customers $5 recently.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:48 pm to Sentrius
I'm biased, but to me there's nothing inherently shady about attorneys' profiting more than any single litigant in a class action.
That said, in a lot of these class and collective actions, they're spawning litigation that doesn't occur naturally. Big time toxic tort and the like often have very real injuries that are being addressed. The same isn't true when lawyers realize Google has engaged in minor tortious behavior 9 billion times and wants to build grievances people didn't even know they had.
That said, in a lot of these class and collective actions, they're spawning litigation that doesn't occur naturally. Big time toxic tort and the like often have very real injuries that are being addressed. The same isn't true when lawyers realize Google has engaged in minor tortious behavior 9 billion times and wants to build grievances people didn't even know they had.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:49 pm to Sentrius
Most class action lawsuits I've heard of end up something like this. People getting pennies compared to what damage was done.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:50 pm to Pettifogger
All law suits are evil!!!
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:52 pm to Pettifogger
I have no problem with attorneys profiting greatly. But any case that results in the customer getting pennies and the attorney getting millions cannot be defended.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:54 pm to Sentrius
they're of great value to lawyers
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:54 pm to NIH
lawyers are a perversion of morality
Posted on 2/12/17 at 2:56 pm to Sentrius
quote:Read Grisham's "King of Torts". It was my favorite from him in years at the time I read it.
Thoughts on this?
But yeah, that's pretty hilarious.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:01 pm to Sentrius
Lawyers shouldn't be paid by percentage. They should be paid by set fees like Doctor's and their CPT codes. Something like "Divorce, complex - 80562 - $500"
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:03 pm to mauser
Why do you want to regulate private earnings?
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:10 pm to NIH
Did you think I was serious? I do think that collecting 35-40% of successful multi-million dollar lawsuits is truly just pure greed.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:16 pm to Sentrius
quote:
know trial lawyers are shady as shite but this shady?
There is no depth to which a trial lawyer will not sink.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:22 pm to FightinTigersDammit
I got one for 21.00 last month for a LinkedIn lawsuit I didn't even know about. Went to Longhorns and had lunch.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:24 pm to Sentrius
they're right up there with the CFPB re: consumer-protection efficacy.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:25 pm to Sentrius
This has been going on forever - biggest scam I know of.
There is a reason the trial lawyers organizations are big DEM supporters.
There is a reason the trial lawyers organizations are big DEM supporters.
Posted on 2/12/17 at 3:38 pm to Sentrius
What would AT&T be doing if a team of lawyers didn't take them to task? And who would they still be doing it to?
Hint...the verb rhymes with ducking, and the subject is the consumer.
Hint...the verb rhymes with ducking, and the subject is the consumer.
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