Karen Gorecki
Robert Peirce & Associates, Inc.
(412) 281-7229
kgorecki@peircelaw.com
by Rob Peirce, Esq., Robert Peirce & Associates
Your hotel added an unadvertised resort fee to your bill and when you question it, they say it’s in the fine print of the terms and conditions you approved when you made your reservation.
An online club your daughter joined because it promised she could buy concert tickets for a hot act says it doesn’t have enough tickets and when you complain, they claim that they never guaranteed the tickets would be available. It’s right there in the fine print.
You get headaches after you begin a new medication. Months later you read that the company that makes it didn’t release all the research about its side effects.
Two fairly irritating scenarios and one that can be life-threatening, but they all have one thing in common. It will be easier for you to get your wrongs righted—and maybe some compensation—if you join with others in a class action lawsuit.
What could be more American than average people getting together to seek justice? Yet business organizations and many politicians continue to attack class actions lawsuits and support legislation that would severely restrict the rights of Americans to sue. They say that class action lawsuits are only good for trial lawyers, and not for common citizens.
Try telling that to the three thousand people recently denied credit disability insurance payments by a large insurance company, until their class action lawyers demonstrated that the insurance company’s policies contained an ambiguous definition of disability. As a result, all of the people denied coverage are now entitled to receive credit disability payments for as long as they remain disabled. None of these people could have afforded to sue by themselves, but they were able to achieve justice through the class action lawsuit. And none of them cared that the lawyers who tried the case for them made more money than any one of them did individually.
Those who wish to constrain the ability of people to pursue lawsuits say that many lawsuits are frivolous. But do you think it’s frivolous when a $5-a-night resort fee that you know is unfair shows up on your hotel bill? It’s more likely that you’re frustrated and angry that there is nothing you can do about it because who is going to sue for $15 or $35?
The example of the resort fee demonstrates all the benefits of class action lawsuits to both individuals and society in general. The class action lawsuit in this case is still in trial, with 4,000 people in the class filing the lawsuit. Now why would so many people care about such small sums? If they win:
- People get something back, even if it’s just a few dollars or a coupon for money off their next stay.
- The hotel that has taken advantage of consumers will have to stop doing it.
- Other companies in the hospitality industry will be put on notice that they can’t get away with hiding fees in the terms and conditions.
About three years ago, Congress passed the highly publicized Class Action Fairness Act, which, among other things, forces class action lawsuits in different states against the same company to consolidate and be tried in federal court. Supposedly the law prevents “venue shopping,” which means selecting from a number of state courts the one in which it is easiest to win a lawsuit. No one ever could explain why “venue-shopping” is bad in class action lawsuits in which consumers are suing businesses but not in other types of cases in which the laws of the various states differ. One thing is certain: the consolidation of lawsuits makes it harder to settle cases before trial and funnels class action cases to a small number of larger law firms.
The assault on class action lawsuits continues unabated. The American Tort Reform Center, a business-sponsored organization trying to make it harder to sue corporations, recently urged Congress to hold hearings into what it termed “widespread misconduct” by attorneys. Laws circling Congress and many of the states would put caps on “non-economic damages” and lawyers’ fees for medical malpractice cases, many of which end up as class actions.
Many point to the recent conviction of a few prominent class action lawyers as proof that all attorneys who handle class action lawsuits are corrupt. Of course, that’s like saying that all drug companies are corrupt because one or two hid studies. Or, that all fan clubs are corrupt because one promised tickets and couldn’t deliver. Or, that all hotels are corrupt because a few like to hide fees.
It’s all about punishing the bad apples. They do spoil the barrel, which is why it’s surprising that business organizations and pro-business politicians do not embrace the class action lawsuit, which is one of the most effective ways of not only punishing the bad apples who hurt a lot of people, but of making sure that they don’t do it again. |
