Contact me at markploftus@aol.com

The Chicago Tribune ran a two part series on class action lawsuits and their abuses in the paper on March 7 and 8. The article made note of several cases where the actual recovery for the plaintiffs was mimimal while the legal fees were quite large. Some examples included a class action against the City of Wichita Kansas for wrongfully jailing 7000 misdemeanor defendants. Each plaintiff received $500 while the lawyers split up $1 million. Or the action against Mercedes Benz for failing to warn owners that non-synthetic oil could cause damage to the car. In that case, the car owners received vouchers of $35 for oil changes and their warranties were modified. The attorneys earned fees of $5 million. So it would be hard to argue that sometimes the results in some of these class actions benefit only the lawyers who file them. Our legal system isn't perfect. The authors did admit though, that after reviewing 300 separate state and federal class-action settlements, nearly one third of those actions did prompt reforms of improper practices such as forced overtime, or the surreptitious use of inferior auto parts in repairs. In addition, the article also noted that in only 10% of the reviewed cases did it appear that lawyers actually reaped more rewards than litigants. So based on the Tribune's analysis, 90% of the class actions they studied would appear to be legitimate. That's a pretty good batting average.

The second part of the article was supposed to explain why class action lawyers were selecting Madison County, Illinois as the place to file their class action claims. Unfortunately, the article I read[Chicago Tribune Internet version] simply discussed one particularly byzantine class action growing out of attempts to recover funds from an individual who had allegedly wrongfully obtained millions of dollars from unsuspecting consumers through a variety of different means. Okay, that case was a mess - doesn't look like the victims will see much in the way of recovery. But one case? They could only come up with one case? The Chamber of Commerce folks are calling Madison County the number one legal hellhole in Illinois - and the Tribune comes up with one case? I certainly would have liked to see some more examples of why Madison County is such a bad place. In all candor though, it is just more of the same. When the "tort reform" people get worked up, they bluster on and on about all that is wrong with our legal system, but then can't really offer much in the way of meaningful examples. And they never seem to offer much in the way of improvements. Are there areas in our legal system that can be improved? Absolutely. It is far from perfect. But most trial attorneys will tell you that juries usually do the right thing, based on the evidence. So be wary of those who want to "improve" our legal system by stripping away certain bedrock principles like trial by a jury of one's peers. Those people don't want to improve the legal system. They want to eliminate it.