Filing A Class Action Lawsuit? Here’s What You Need To Know

The Higher The Number Of Individuals - The Better

The majority of the class action lawsuits are based around allegations of fraud, defective products.

A large group has strength in numbers and makes a much stronger case.

Popular cases of class action lawsuits were filed against AT&T, Hyundai, Kia, etc.

These companies were liable to pay millions of dollars in damages after they caused suffering to their consumers.

Hyundai and Kia jointly settled on a $395 million settlement after they were alleged to inflate the fuel economy of their cars.

The Settlement For Individual Is Not Very High

Even though the companies settled for huge sums of money, average to the tune of $56.5 million in recent years, individuals usually get a tiny piece of the pie.

For example, the target security issue resulted in a $10 million lawsuit, of which the lawyer fees were $6.75 million.

There were around 40 million people affected by the security breach in this case.

If all of them had joined in the lawsuit, they would receive only $0.25 each.

This is considering that none of these people can document their financial losses.

The case against Hyundai and Kia resulted in only a few $100s for each individual.

How To Know What’s Going On

If you are a part of a class-action lawsuit, you can stay updated on the progress after the court approves the case as a class-action lawsuit or a preliminary settlement has been reached between the parties.

But what if you are in a class-action lawsuit and you are not sure if you have been informed of the same? You can directly contact the consumer protection division of the attorney general’s office in your state.

To find out if you are eligible to join a class-action lawsuit, contact our team of experienced attorneys for a free case review today.

Don’t Wait For A Settlement

There are a lot of uncontrollable factors associated with a class-action lawsuit.

The organizations or other people are given plenty of chances to raise any objections related to the case.

After this, the court must decide to provide final approval for the settlement.

There are still options for further appeals.

When all of this is complete, each individual in the class action lawsuit has to wait at least six to nine months once the settlement has been submitted to the court for preliminary approval.

Do You Have Any Other Option?

Sometimes, you might be included in a class-action lawsuit without your knowledge.

You have to manually opt out of the lawsuit if you do not want to continue.

If you have joined the class-action lawsuit, this means you are eligible for receiving a settlement in this case.

But this also means that you sign away your right to file a separate lawsuit.

If you have reason to believe that you have suffered more extraneous circumstances or injuries than what the class action lawsuit specifies, it is better that you opt out of the class action lawsuit and consult an experienced attorney to get a specialized opinion on your case.

Should You Accept The Settlement?

As we have stated before, the settlement money can be underwhelming in class action lawsuits.

You might think that filing to get a tiny sum like that is unnecessary.

You might also not be interested in accepting the settlement if you don’t think there have been sufficient damages in your case.

But you should accept the money you receive from the settlement.

If you do not want to keep it for your own expenses, the money will instead go to other members of the lawsuit or be donated to the charity chosen by the plaintiffs.

You can also personally accept the settlement and donate it to a charity, which will make you eligible for a tax deduction.

To understand the working of class-action lawsuits and determine if it is the right fit for you, consult our expert attorneys today.