Good morning, everyone! I hope you had a great long weekend! We were working, and I’ve been busy meeting with current and potential clients 12 hours a day for the past few days at the National Trial Lawyers Summit in Miami. It’s super busy but helpful. One of my main goals is to increase the number and types of cases we can present to you to participate in. I’ve been meeting with some amazing lawyers to do just that.
As we see more cases filed this year, I’d like to make sure everyone is aware of how these class actions
work. The first step is to get the case filed. We work with the lawyers to help them connect with you, the potential lead class representative, via the class action investigation. If you qualify and sign up with the law firm to represent you, the case can be filed. Now comes a long, challenging fight for the lawyers that can take 1-3 years (or more).
The case is filed and the defendant starts filing motions to dismiss the case. The defendant will say the claims are unfounded, baseless or, if they aren’t (i.e.; they know they “did it”), they may say the case can’t be fought in that
state or federal district court and it needs to be filed elsewhere. The defendants will do whatever they can to delay or get the case dismissed. Every delay costs the plaintiff law firm time, which costs them money. Remember, class action lawyers don’t get paid unless they win or settle the case, so they are investing hundreds of thousand of dollars, if not millions of dollars, to litigate the case with no guarantee of return. The defendants work to starve the plaintiff attorney out...
Fast forward 1-3 years (or more) and the presiding judge says, “Yes, the case is valid, the class is certified!” That means the judge believes it's a viable case and can go to trial. At that point, most cases settle but this can take 1-2 years of legal wrangling to settle the case. Once settlement terms have been
set, it goes to the judge for approval. What happens next? Stay tuned! I will continue this in next week's newsletter!
On to more lawsuit and settlement updates!
That's all for now! Make it a GREAT week!
Warm Regards,
Scott Hardy
President & CEO