A class action is a lawsuit where a plaintiff, or group of plaintiffs, represents a larger group (or “class”) of plaintiffs in a court action.
In matters of consumer fraud, businesses can engage in unfair and deceptive trade practices that harm hundreds, thousands, or even millions of consumers. It is not feasible for each of the millions of consumers to bring their own lawsuit and carry it through the litigation process. The actions would burden the court system, there would be a risk of inconsistent and unfair court rulings, and litigation could be prohibitively expensive for most of the class members.
Most importantly, class actions are an effective way of fixing or correcting bad corporate behavior. Businesses will write legal expenses into their business plans, and they will plan to pay out a certain amount in legal expenses. That is not fair if the business plans on defrauding some, or all, of its customers, and plans on being sued from only some of its customers. A multi-million dollar corporation will not blink if it has to pay $50,000 to one of its customers that it defrauded. It is much more likely that the corporation will take pause when it pays $50,000,000 in damages to a class of consumers that it cheated. This high damage potential can act as a deterrent for a business that is considering an unfair or deceptive trade practice, and it is a corrective measure for a business that has already caused damage to its customers.
At The Goldson Law Office, we work with attorneys across the country to go after businesses that harm consumers.
Among the many consumer class actions that we consider at this firm are:
- FDCPA Violations (debt collection harassment and deception)
- TCPA Violations (auto-dialer calls to your cell phone)
- Collection Violations (when debt collectors violate the law)
- Auto Fraud (fraudulent financing and fee assessment)