Every quarter or so for the past few years I seem to get a notice to participate in some class action lawsuit. Apparently some company I did business with in the past has done me wrong and some white knight lawyer is going to help me liberate damages. Since I can never remember being personally damaged by any of these companies, I refuse to participate.
I read Atlas Shrugged, I know the end game of a society ran by looters.
However the most recent class action notice (Snow v. LensCrafter) I received had an interesting clause. I’m either to receive a $70 voucher or a $30 payment. However, if I less than 50% of the customers sign on to the lawsuit then those leeches that do sign on will receive an additional compensation of a $25 voucher.
So now I’m put in the middle of a dilemma. Either I take compensation from a company that did me no harm or I stand by while some other looter gets bonus compensation because I didn’t stick my hand out. The lawyers appear to win in either case and LensCrafter loses in either case. What to do?
By the way, not all class action lawsuits are frivolous. If someone ever went after BlockBuster Video for fradulent late fees or Chipotle for intestinal distress, I’d sign on in a second.
Effectively all class-action suits are disingenuous at best. Would you really agree that the class action representative (e.g., unscrupulous attorney) is somehow entitled to compensation for a fabricated grievance against an involuntary and otherwise unconcerned party? Why is it acceptable in our society to extort money in this fashion? If these things are going to exist, the otherwise unknowingly invited plaintiffs should have to go out of their way to opt in and any money not pursued should be kept by the defendant, not otherwise gobbled up by the remaining salivating parties.