You're quite wrong on several counts. Federal courts mete out much higher quality justice than state courts, as a general rule. The judges generally are better and know and follow the law better, although there are exceptions.
I have been a member of several class action classes, and you probably have, too, without even knowing about it. Sometimes they don't even bother to tell you.
There's a big problem with these cases that goes much deeper than just the courts and judges, although better judges might not let the lawyers get away with murder so often.
The most memorable was against Dell Computer in 1993 or so, where the class action lawyers said I was overcharged by about a hundred bucks ($100.00) for some stock I'd bought in my IRA. Three or four years later, I got my share of the settlement -- a check for ten bucks ($10.00) and change.
The lawyers made hundreds of thousands, if not a million. I faxed the lawyers a one-page request for a synopsis of what they'd done to earn their fee (it settled early in discovery, before trial), and to my surprise the next morning I received a FedEx box with about 8 pounds of paper in it, mostly lawyers' fee petitions, that cost many times more to copy and FedEx to me than my share of the settlement.
But even worse, if I'd listened to the lawyers and sold my shares of that "evil" Dell corporation when the suit was filed, I would have missed out on some serious stock profits.
Another one was against a software company that produced a seriously defective upgrade to a product that I use. It was cumbersome and nearly useless, and they deserved to be sued. The class action lawyers got on the case, and wound up negotiating a settlement that consisted of a coupon to give me a small discount on the then-current upgrade. Unfortunately I'd already upgraded out of necessity, as had many others, and the settlement was useless for me. Further, the company offers similar annual upgrade discounts anyway.
I was so angry I called the lead attorney on the case -- supposedly "our lawyer" (with big NY city law firm) and told him the problem. He rudely cut me off, said, "That's the settlement" and hung up. They got their fee, and I got nothing.
His firm handles lots of these suits, and they'll treat you likewise.
One of the lawyers' (both sides') favorites is to negotiate for a coupon that entitles you to a discount on your next purchase -- obviously requiring you to go back to the defendant to do more business with them. The coupon rarely is any better, if as good as, the prices you'd get at a normal holiday sale. The lawyers, however, get their millions.
Whoever wrote, "Where are the Customers' Yachts?" about stock brokers might consider a new topic. |
