Class action lawsuits are shrouded in mystery, misconception, and rumor. The goal of the information presented below is to bring attention back to the truth and help you understand what class actions are, why they’re filed, and more. This should help you understand the factors contributing to Pennsylvania class action lawsuit timeline better and give you a good general understanding that you can apply anytime you hear about class action lawsuits in the news.
What Class Actions Are
A class action lawsuit is when a law firm works with a small number of plaintiffs to sue a company for the damages they caused a lot of people.
These people who are represented and will be awarded some amount of money in damages are called the “class” and they get a lot of benefits out of being in this group. The biggest benefit is they can win without ever appearing in court. Insted, the lawyers hired by the plaintiff and the plaintiff themselves make their arguments in court and help distribute any winnings to the class.
Any member of the class can either say they weren’t damaged or decline the rewards from the case’s success for any reason. For example, let’s say you buy a new controller for a game console and a few weeks later a class action lawsuit is filed against the controller company because most of the controllers started drifting (the game acts as if the joystick is moving in a direction when it isn’t, leading to unwanted cursor, character, camera or other movements).
If you never experienced the drift, you’d have to stay out of the affected class because you experienced no damages. If the controller did drift but you don’t care about receiving any of the winning funds because you have already replaced the controller, the drift doesn’t bother you, the amount is too small etc., then you can decline the payment.
If you read the news then you may occasionally see headlines that talk about a new class action lawsuit being filed. This isn’t actually accurate; a lawsuit has to be filed before it can be granted class action status. It will include information as to why it should be a class action alongside proof and the local court system must then decide whether or not to grant this status. This process alone can take a long time, sometimes even years.
Why Pursue One
The biggest reason to file a class action lawsuit is when a lot of people suffered minor damages that wouldn’t be worth filing your own lawsuit to try and recover. Let’s say that you order an item from a company and they charge you five extra dollars for no reason. You contact customer support and are simply told that it’s some kind of hidden fee and none of the agents will even consider refunding you for this wrongful charge.
You begrudgingly pay the fee and decide to just move on with your life; it’s not worth it to worry about five dollars. However, if they falsely charged thousands or even tens of thousands of people, then that five dollars turns into well over five thousand or even fifty thousand, making a lawsuit much more reasonable.
There is an incentive for the legal system as well. In our example, at least one thousand people were harmed by that false charge and about half of them decided to file lawsuits about it. That means the legal system would have to handle five hundred cases that are almost identical, clogging it up and making any future cases take longer to resolve.
By simplifying this case into one big one instead of a bunch of smaller ones, it can clear the system faster and avoid taking up too much of the already limited legal resources each state has.
Why You Should File a Claim
If a class action case is filed and you can be a class member then it may be a good idea to join. If you’re not the named plaintiff, then there is no downside to joining. You take on none of the risk and yet can potentially reap some reward. Most of the time, you will be considered a member anyway and have to send a letter to opt out instead of opting in.
However, if you don’t plan on filing a case, fit the description of the class and aren’t sure whether or not you’re automatically opted in, it may be wise to get in contact with the law team handling the case and request to be made a member of the class. After all, the worst that can happen is that you’ll be told that you’re already involved.
They may thank you for the letter of intent though because the information provided in the letter could make it much easier to contact you about receiving your payment should the case conclude in your favor.
How You Get Paid
When a case is either ruled on by a judge or ends in a settlement between the plaintiff and the defendant, then the amount earned needs to be divided. The first people to get paid are the lawyers and named plaintiffs and then the rest is divided equally among all who submit claims or accept the winnings. How much is earned will vary based on how much money is left and how many people are in the class.
As a rule of thumb, the bigger the class, the lower the payment. This payment could be in a large number of forms, from refunds to checks to even just coupons. In some cases, some class members received more damage than others. When this happens, the class will instead be separated into tiers and paid out according to which tier they’re in, with higher tiers being paid more sooner.
As mentioned, both plaintiffs and their lawyers receive an award if the case is successful, and they’re usually a percentage of the total winnings. This, coupled with everyone’s general understanding that lawyers are expensive and reports of bad class action payouts has led many people to see them as a waste of time. However, a judge must approve of everyone’s winning before they are paid out.
A lawyer’s requested amount can be denied if it’s seen as unfair. While some judges will make poor decisions on this front in the future and shady lawyers may try to charge way too much, a competent lawyer or a judge with integrity will prevent this from happening.