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Are You A Victim? Class Action May Be An Alternative To Going It Alone
by: Tony Merlino
The Class Action Lawsuit might be comparable to the club in the hand of David who is about to slay the Goliath, or in this case a giant corporation.
Maybe "slay" is to strong a word. In any event, the class action lawsuit is an effective tool, (when wielded by an experienced professional), which can give a big company plenty of headaches.
To begin, let's define exactly what a class action lawsuit is and what it accomplishes.
In theory, the class action device is a practical way for a similarly situated group of people to band together with the common objective of getting compensated for some sort of injury. It may be a bodily injury, but in most cases it is financial injury.
The attractive element in a class action suit is that it enables an individual or small group of people, (who individually may have suffered little), to bring to light a gigantic aggregate loss.
One of the significant problems the "class action" solves is the prohibitive cost of an individual bearing the expense of bringing the case to light on his own behalf.
An individual is understandably deterred from pursuing a claim by the cost of the suit, when compared to their expected recovery. However in a class action situation the costs of litigation are born by the lawyers for the plaintiffs. In nearly all cases the unsuccessful defendants are compelled to compensate the lawyers.
Here are some typical scenarios in which plaintiffs might begin a Class Action.
The employees of a company may have suffered from continual racial, age or sex discrimination.
A company might be responsible for contaminating an entire neighborhood with toxic chemicals or other environmentally unsafe pollutants.
A pharmaceutical company distributed drugs that were found to be dangerous or had undisclosed side effects that injured a number of people.
A manufacturer caused inherently unsafe or defective products to reach the consumer and cause injury.
Consumers who are forced to pay inflated prices or were illegally and unfairly charged unauthorized fees.
Investors that were victimized by deceptive practices in connection with the purchase of stocks, and other securities may have a claim.
The essence and areas of argument can vary tremendously in any particular case. However, two variables exist in every class action. They are, the circumstances and grievances are similar or common to all members and the shear number of plaintiffs makes it impossible to bring the cases individually before the court.
If any of the scenarios above apply to your circumstance or if you are unsure if your case qualifies as a class action, you should contact a reputable Class Action Law Firm.
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