Good morning, everyone! I hope you're hunkering down with friends and family as we wait for the wildfire of Coronavirus to burn itself out a bit. Limiting exposure to others seems like the best bet so our hospitals and ICUs aren't taxed to their breaking points, like China and Italy were. Canada has locked its doors to non-residents at the border, which I think is VERY wise. Take care of your family, friends and neighbors (which is what Americans DO), and we'll make it through this.
A friend of mine from Florida, from back in my call center days, commented on the lines at the grocery stores and empty aisles by saying, "Welcome to hurricane panic! You folks aren't used to seeing this happen, but it happens every year or two for
us in Florida! It'll pass in a week or two!" He makes a good point. Even with non-essential services shutting down, keep in mind that grocery stores ARE considered essential. The trucks moving products to the grocery stores? They're also considered essential. Once people see that the grocery stores are getting stocked up again, the panic should lessen and HOPEFULLY you'll be able to get your groceries without incident.
On the work side of things, most of the cases we work with are filed electronically so it's business (mostly) as usual for the lawyers we work with. They are having their teams work from home whenever possible, but the wheels of justice are continuing to move. Something I would continue to HIGHLY recommend against is breaking the law. Why? We're seeing some continuances start to get
issued for criminal complaints. If you get arrested for a DUI, petty theft or something else, you may very well get stuck in jail for days or even weeks before you're processed and released on bail if you're in a hard hit area like the state of Washington. While you have a right to a speedy trial, if there's no judge to hear your case, you will sit in jail until there IS one. So continue to be good to each other out there, OK?
As a virtual company, Top Class Actions continues to operate as normal, though our team may have kids running around the background a bit during calls, due to schools being shut down. The conferences we were planning to attend through May have all been canceled. Thankfully, that doesn't change how we post updates to the website. We'll keep finding cases to report
about and we'll keep working hard to help consumers in the United States, and beyond, get the help they need from some of the best class action attorneys in the WORLD!
Since it's almost 80 degrees here in Arizona and my kids are home (spring break went from one week to at least three weeks), I'm going to take this opportunity to jump in the pool. It's still a little chilly, but we need to stay active, they need to stay active, and we have to have FUN, especially during tough times! Cannonballlllllllll!!!!
On to more lawsuit and settlement updates:
That's all for now! Make it a GREAT week!
Warm Regards,
Scott Hardy
President & CEO