Ban Class Action Law Suits!

madanthonywayne

madanthonywayne

Morning in America
Registered Senior Member
Recently, I recieved notification that, as someone who had bought children's glasses at LensCrafters in the past five years, I was entitled to part of a settlement in a class action suit filed against LensCrafters. Hmm, I thought, that's interesting.

So I read the document and it turns out that some bitchy LensCrafters custumer complained about the 50% off children's pricing. Apparently, LensCrafters always offers a 50% discount on children's glasses so the lady argued that that was the normal price and she demanded her child's glasses be sold for 50% of that price (half of half of the price). The staff at LensCrafters refused, arguing that the deal was similiar to special pricing for children at the movies or Senior citizens discounts. LensCrafters decided to settle the case, filed as a class action suit to pump up the amount since otherwise the lawsuit would have been over a matter of like $75..

The end result was that LensCrafters decided to settle out of court. They agreed to slightly change the wording of their 50% off children's package so as not to confuse or mislead idiots like the woman who sued. Also, the woman who sued was awarded $2500. As a member of the "class" that was damaged by this horribly confusing 50% off deal, I'm entitled to a $15 coupon (if I first fill out some paperworks and mail it to the lawyer, that is). Oh, did I mention what the lawyer got? He got $275,000.

So, LensCrafters offers a discount. Some idiot sues. Some jackass lawyer then turns it into a class action lawsuit without asking any of us who might have been "damaged" if we want him suing in our name, and what do all the members of the "class" that were so horribly damaged by this discount get? A fracking coupon!

And this isn't the first time I've received such a letter. I've received other coupons for being in some "class" of injured people in whose name some lawyer sued. But that's it. Never have I received anything of value. Never have I requested that I be included in one of these lawsuits. But over and over again I have lawyers suing in my name.

These lawsuits serve only to enrich lawyers and harass businesses. The so called aggrieved party (the "class") gets nothing of value. In fact, they'll probably end up paying higher prices since the business will need to recoup the money they had to give the lawyer.

This is wrong. It is an injustice. And it is a waste of resources both public (the court system in which these fiasco's play out) and private (the businesses harrassed by these bullshit lawsuits). These class action lawsuits should either be banned, or the lawyers should at least be required to ask members of the class if they want him suing in their name.
 
I would not appreciate driving all the way there to find out that I had to pay twice as much. It may have not meant to be deceptive, but it can be construed as a gimmick to get people to come in. Once you get them in, they may just pay more, because glasses are a neccessity and the trip costs money and time. I don't have all the facts, but I'm leaning toward the lady who complained.
 
I got something for all those blockbuster overdue fees they were charging me, thanks to a class action lawsuit. Frak those bastards! Some free movies and no more late fees. Power to the people!
 
People now a days will look for any opportunity to sue. If they think they can get some money out of it they will try. I think it has gotten a bit out of hand too. As for the lawyers they are scumbags. They will take advantage of every opportunity to suck the money out of you or a business.

This is a bit off topic but so what...:p
I had a friend that was married to a malpractice lawyer. He was just a young guy a few yrs into it. He would tell us some of the cases he was working on. To make a long story short, he had a client who was suing a farmer. She was driving at night and a cow must have roamed away from the farmers land onto the road. She hit the cow and ended up smashing her car and ending up with some back pain. Apparently it was nothing too serious and she was able to walk and carry on. They also had concluded that she was driving way past the speed limit on the country road. Anyway this woman literally milked (pardon the pun) it for everything it was worth. This poor farmer was sued for almost everything he had. The lawyer (our friend)
told us he was meeting with the woman and she appeared to be fine. He actually thinks she was really faking these injuries, although very hard to prove. When it comes to back/neck pain it is hard to prove what someone is really feeling. She said she couldn't work anymore blah blah and wanted to sue for damages and lost future income. Anyway we said don't you feel bad for this farmer? He said yeah I do but she is my client and it is my job. It is also a paycheck in my pocket. At that point I thought there is no way I could ever do that job. He was a really nice guy but when he put on his suit and became "the lawyer" he was ruthless. So they went to court and the farmer lost almost everything and this woman walked away with a nice settlement. I can't remember exactly but it was something like 400,000.00 and he got a % of that not sure how much. After that he said, she was planning a big vacation and shit and he didn't think there was fuck all wrong with her. I said man..... I don't know how you sleep at night.

Or what about this other kind of bullshit. Oh my coffee was too hot and I burned my tongue, I am suing. McDonald's is making me fat, I am suing. At one time, I almost opened a little cafe. I am so glad I didn't now. I wouldn't want to own
anything that has to do with people and food.
 
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ancientregime said:
I would not appreciate driving all the way there to find out that I had to pay twice as much. It may have not meant to be deceptive, but it can be construed as a gimmick to get people to come in. Once you get them in, they may just pay more, because glasses are a neccessity and the trip costs money and time. I don't have all the facts, but I'm leaning toward the lady who complained.
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You wouldn't have to pay twice as much. The deal was simple. Kids got their glasses at half price. The same pair of glasses that would cost $200 for an adult would cost $100 for a child. But the lady said that since kids always got glasses at half price, that was the normal price and she wanted the glasses for half of the 50% off price.
 
just because people abuse the system used to protect the public against large powerful groups doesn't mean that the system used to protect the public is evil.
 
pjdude1219 said:
just because people abuse the system used to protect the public against large powerful groups doesn't mean that the system used to protect the public is evil.
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As currently set up, class action lawsuits do far more harm than good. They serve as nothing but an ATM for lawyers pretending to be serving the public. Making the lawyers get signatures of people in the affected class before filing a lawsuit in their name would take care of most of the abuse. Is it really so much to ask that lawyers get permision before filing a lawsuit in your name?
 
madanthonywayne said:
As currently set up, class action lawsuits do far more harm than good. They serve as nothing but an ATM for lawyers pretending to be serving the public. Making the lawyers get signatures of people in the affected class before filing a lawsuit in their name would take care of most of the abuse. Is it really so much to ask that lawyers get permision before filing a lawsuit in your name?
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I'm not saying the system couldn't use some improvement it can and I'm not saying that there aren't trial lawyers who are sue happy so they get better paychecks there are. in fact I like your idea to ask for support if it also gives the facts so people don't hop on board to some fucked bs case and so they can help prevent fruadlent cases. Class action lawsuits need to stay. the american cultural view towards them needs to change.




also on some of the cases that are used to show why trial lawyers are bad not all the facts are given to try and give the profession a bad rap.
 
Yes perhaps lawyers should get permission from the people who they're representing, but I don't think class action lawsuits should be banned. If a company has seriously messed up a lot of people they should have to pay out to everyone that it affected. Like the Erin Brochavich (sp?) case. Or when Taco Bell wasn't paying their workers for the time they had put in, so even if you no longer work there they still owe you.
 
Broad solutions for broad harm?

Well, we can always wait for a more legitimate issue to arise. Like asbestos. Or manipulated drug trials. And then think of it this way: Once one person wins, the company will be hit with perhaps a million lawsuits. And once the outcome is pretty much certain, well, I'm sure someone will find a way to blame the backlog in the courts on liberals.

Certainly there are some suits that shouldn't come to class action, but at some point we have to start thinking about the quality of legal representation some entities bring to the table. I mean, if twenty corporate lawyers can't convince a judge to handle the suits on a case-by-case basis, even when the class action is direly questionable, we might wonder what the hell is going on.

Then again, sometimes it is to a respondent's advantage to request class action. If you had, say, 180,000 claims against you, would you really want to settle them one by one?
____________________

Notes:

Feder, Barnaby J. "Class Action Is Requested By Manville". New York Times. September 19, 1990. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...ics/Subjects/H/Hazardous and Toxic Substances
 
I would think that a class action lawsuit would be a better way to go in certain cases that involved a large amount of people suing for the same thing. As an example the tobacco lawsuit that has been going on forever it would seem. Say that each individual were to sue that would take forever for the suit to be even brought to court to be tried. :eek:
 
Class action law suits do server a valuable purpose. But I to get these nonsense law suits notifications saying I am part of the class action or maybe part of a class action where I get a few pennies and the lawyers get millions...often it costs the lawyers more postage than I would get as part of the settlement. The only one who generally benefits from class actions are the lawyers pressing the class action suit.

But you do not want to throw out the baby with the bath water either.
 
joepistole said:
Class action law suits do server a valuable purpose. But I to get these nonsense law suits notifications saying I am part of the class action or maybe part of a class action where I get a few pennies and the lawyers get millions...often it costs the lawyers more postage than I would get as part of the settlement. The only one who generally benefits from class actions are the lawyers pressing the class action suit.

But you do not want to throw out the baby with the bath water either.
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A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing! ;)
 
Nah, it aint worth my time. And I am not a law suit kind of guy. I have had opportunities to sue people in my life including my physician...probably could have received some good money. But who does not make mistakes? And who does not need a bit of forgiveness?

The answer to every ill and every wrong is not another law or a law suit. But I think with todays rush for money we forget about each other. None of us after all are perfect...just folks trying to do the best we can with what we have.
 
joepistole said:
Nah, it aint worth my time. And I am not a law suit kind of guy. I have had opportunities to sue people in my life including my physician...probably could have received some good money. But who does not make mistakes? And who does not need a bit of forgiveness?

The answer to every ill and every wrong is not another law or a law suit. But I think with todays rush for money we forget about each other. None of us after all are perfect...just folks trying to do the best we can with what we have.
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Even if millions of people were already involved with the suit? I do not believe you, you are just like everyone else and would sign up for a piece of the pie.
 
I have received one before for some medication. I would have received $.75. The envelopes, stamp, and letter cost more than that. It was pathetic. Who wants a check for $.75?
 
Orleander said:
I have received one before for some medication. I would have received $.75. The envelopes, stamp, and letter cost more than that. It was pathetic. Who wants a check for $.75?
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But what if it was 75,000.00! Would you feel the same way. Every lawsuit is different and the amounts vary to each person. ;)
 
Orleander said:
well hell yeah I would. No question. I don't think I'd even read what it was about.
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That is a problem with every class action lawsuit. No one knows what will be the final outcome for many years so it is best to get on the bandwagon when it comes along rather than watching it roll by. ;)
 
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