*rides in on his evil lawyer Hellsteed*

First of all, just what do you all think a class-action lawsuit is?

What it is, is a way for a class of people who believe they have been civily wronged to join together and bring all of their claims under one, singular suit. They all have the same injury, the same facts to their case, the same allegations, etc. It does not promote judicial economy of resources to have 2,000 seperate lawsuits against the American Tobbaco industry, ergo the suits are joined together and litigated together.

To my knowledge, you may chose not to be a part of the class action lawsuit, but you may be bound in what you can and can't use (depositions, witnesses, etc.).

They are not some way for some lawyer to profit off of other people. All lawyers profit off of other people, that's our job. We have a special skill, and we are paid for it. Plain and simple. A class action lawsuit undoubtedly consumes a vast amount of resources, and the lawyer pays for this out of his own pocket.

I repeat, a lawyer pays for this out of his own pocket.

If he wins, he is usually restricted in the fees he may collect, i.e. 33,3% of the total damages. However, keep in mind what I just repeated to you twice: he paid for the trial out of his own pocket. If he lost, he was out of the money with nothing but a judgment against him to show for it. He, his paralegals, everybody who worked on the case has to be paid as well, and, keep in mind, he and whatever other lawyers are on the case will be representing that entire class of people.

I mean, what would make it more fair here to you? Does the fact that 4 or 5 lawyers get 2 million dollars for representing 50 injured clients make you uncomfortable? Would it make you feel better if 50 individual lawyers got 20,000 dollars each, while the court had 50 seperate trials on the docket, practically throwing taxpayer money down the toilet?

I'd rather 5 lawyers get rich for doing good at their job than have the court tied up with all of that mess.

But then, it might not take up that many resources anyway, because if one claim won, then, concievably, the subsequent claims could claim offensive collateral estoppel and have all of the pertinent facts pre-determined from the get-go and get an easy judgement, but that still takes up a lot of time and offensive collateral estoppel isn't the most popular thing from what I know.

Anyway...

*rides off on his evil lawyer Hellsteed*

__________________
Andrew DeShazo, Deacon, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"All of us stumble in many ways, but if anyone is never at fault in what he says, then he is mature, able to control his whole body."(James 3:2)