subject: For Instances Of Widespread Inequality Class Action Attorneys Fight For Justice [print this page] Anyone who has experienced what happens when they are seriously wronged by a big company would agree the law seems to favor companies. They have their own legal representatives, individuals have to hire them at considerable expense. Gathering a group of similarly mistreated people with the help of class action attorneys provides a much better chance.
The reasons individuals often just live with being harmed instead of seeking judicial review are largely economic. Attorney fees can be extremely high and many can not afford to retain legal counsel. In fairness, there are lawyers that take cases for only a portion of what they can gain the client, this is rare unless the case is large.
Often the difficulty is that the harm caused is perceived as a minor event that is hardly worth the trouble. Most people are unwilling to get excited over errors of less than a dollar. Some, however, astutely recognize that if a company does business on a large scale, this type of nickel and dime error can be a huge amount of money in the aggregate.
Righting a wrong is principle enough for many, but in reality a simple error can result in an enormous unearned windfall for a company at the expense of the masses. When it happens with a basic service provider it increases the cost of living for all. When it is a private company, an unfair advantage is gained over the competition to the detriment of the consumer.
That there are a limited number of lawyers willing to take on this kind of work. Company legal departments have intimate product familiarity and specialization in the legislation dealing with their business. They are a formidable opponent, and independent counsel have a very real possibility that they will not succeed and subsequently not get paid for the effort.
The legal team has an uphill battle, as consumers are loath to admit there is any rationale on the part of the company they are upset with. The lawyer has to verify a legitimate complaint that is equal if not identical across a group of consumers. The goal is to help people hold large entities accountable to fair play.
The first step is to convince a court the complaint is real and affects a large group. Then it is necessary to argue the reason all of them should argue as one instead of individual remedy. It is difficult to prove that a company created the harm intentionally, but initially what is critical is that the court recognize the possibility.
As simplistic as it may seem, organizing a large group of disparate individuals into a cohesive team is not easy. The legal team needs to be able to ensure fairness on both sides as well as have an established means to distribute any judgment equitably. There are few class action attorneys, but they serve to give the citizen a powerful ally.
