Terms and Conditions in Class Action Suit

[Critical Mass]

Thank you all for your opinions, but I still don't have an answer to the original question, and subsequent questions

1) Should I assume from PayrollHRGuy's comment that this is a fair rate, considering the type of case this is?
2) If this is a higher-than-average rate, do I have the ability to "shop around", or is it a case of "take it or leave it"?
3) Considering the recent information on the type of case this is, am I still better off pursuing an individual case? And if I did, how much more effort, work, and time would be required on my part? I would hate to have to go through a lengthy process of going to court, losing time from work, etc, knowing that there's a possibility I will get nothing out of it.
4) Quincy -- When researching the law firm, I merely searched the phone number and it came back with the same firm listed in the email. After searching the name of the firm, I didn't see anything negative about them, so I assume this is a reputable firm, and I have nothing to fear. Is there another thing I should be looking for which would give me a reason to NOT trust them? For instance, a website that rates law firms, maybe?

 

[quincy]

Thank you all for your opinions, but I still don't have an answer to the original question, and subsequent questions

1) Should I assume from PayrollHRGuy's comment that this is a fair rate, considering the type of case this is?
2) If this is a higher-than-average rate, do I have the ability to "shop around", or is it a case of "take it or leave it"?
3) Considering the recent information on the type of case this is, am I still better off pursuing an individual case? And if I did, how much more effort, work, and time would be required on my part? I would hate to have to go through a lengthy process of going to court, losing time from work, etc, knowing that there's a possibility I will get nothing out of it.
4) Quincy -- When researching the law firm, I merely searched the phone number and it came back with the same firm listed in the email. After searching the name of the firm, I didn't see anything negative about them, so I assume this is a reputable firm, and I have nothing to fear. Is there another thing I should be looking for which would give me a reason to NOT trust them? For instance, a website that rates law firms, maybe?

1. What a "fair" rate is for a class action or multi-district lawsuit depends on several factors, factors which include but are not limited to class size, hours and costs expected to be expended, chances of recovery.
2. A 40% rate is higher than the median or mean rate for a class action suit. However there is a wide range in rates (from just over 10% to just under 40%) that are approved by courts.
3. The time you might have to spend on a personal action is definitely a lot greater than the time you otherwise would have to spend.
4. You can look at the State Bar's Attorney Disciplinary Actions to see if there have been any adverse actions taken against an attorney or a law firm. I would not rely on online ratings or reviews as an indicator of an attorney's skill or ability, however. Good ratings are sometimes paid for by an attorney, and reviews are unreliable as anyone (client or not) can post a false positive review or a false negative review.

One way to discover how good a particular attorney is can be to ask other attorneys. They often know the reputations of other attorneys.

Good luck.

 

[Critical Mass]

Thanks! So does that mean the court may not allow a 40% rate, or has the court already approved of it?

 

[quincy]

Thanks! So does that mean the court may not allow a 40% rate, or has the court already approved of it?

Attorney fees are subject to court review and approval. If a court deems the rate too high, the fee will be reduced.

 

[adjusterjack]

After inquiring, I was emailed back from a paralegal:

The lawsuit is a multi-district litigation lawsuit. It is different from a class action in the sense that each case will be looked at individually at the end of litigation. This means that there are other cases with similar injuries, from using RoundUp, filed at the same court, before the same judge. The cases move together in “groups” to consolidate certain issues as a whole. Once the court feels like it has resolved issues that would span across all cases, it will start moving forward with individual cases. The case can end up settling before going to trial, which would result in an amount awarded based on your specific case details. If the cases do not settle and trial is needed, the court will pick cases for trial.

Which is what happened with the thousands of individual lawsuits that arose from the 9/11/2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

 

[quincy]

Right. It is not unusual when the defendant is the same but the plaintiffs have different complaints of varying severity arising from the same source.

 

[mrsjohnson]

Curious if the agreement with the firm contained an arbitration clause. If it does, I would negotiate to take it out or don't deal with that firm. I've only looked at being a class representative on one occasion so I don't know if this is in most agreements or not but leave it to a bunch of damn lawyers to have you contract away your right to sue them if they screw up your case. Other than that, I'm of the opinion that class actions don't always do much to compensate plaintiffs but usually the lawyers do get compensated and quite well.

 

[cbg]

For the record, on a couple of occasions I've been sent checks out of the blue that I was told was due to the settlement of a class action suit. The larger of the two was for something like $8.38.

I've gotten considerably more in suits where I ended up with Amazon credit but those were in cases where the amount of the award was directly tied to the amount each person had spent. I think I got $125 or so on one of those.

 

[quincy]

I believe this thread - from August - was revived.

I have received small checks in the past, too, from class action settlements. The largest I remember was from a suit against Allstate, and it was under $20.

 

[quincy]

Curious if the agreement with the firm contained an arbitration clause. If it does, I would negotiate to take it out or don't deal with that firm. I've only looked at being a class representative on one occasion so I don't know if this is in most agreements or not but leave it to a bunch of damn lawyers to have you contract away your right to sue them if they screw up your case. Other than that, I'm of the opinion that class actions don't always do much to compensate plaintiffs but usually the lawyers do get compensated and quite well.

This is an older thread, mrsjohnson. It is preferred that only the original poster revive their own thread.

How much a plaintiff in a class action recovers depends on several factors, including whether they are the named "face" of the action and on how much the awarded damages are.