I am no lawyer, but class action suits DO have a place.  My wife was prescribed medication which caused her medical problems, and had heart consequences that may shorten her life.  There was a class action suit against the manufacturer that should have paid nearly half (Note: nowhere NEAR all) of the resulting medical costs.  The purpose, and we hope the effect, is to stop the respondent from continuing to market a product or engage in practices that are detrimental to society.  

Any tool can be misused, and the world seems to have left "common sense" on a museum shelf somewhere.  I do not blame the tool.  

Comment by James Robertson

At this point, with low lifes like Dickie Scruggs on the loose, I think the benefit of this tool is being completely overwhelmed by the cost

Jim -- do you have actual data that suggests the costs are too great, or are you just disgusted with people who play the system and get away with it?

I don't know one way or the other about the real data. But unless there really is that great of a cost, then I'm not going to be in favor of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. (Hey, I got a bunch of movie tickets from blockbuster for some case I wasn't even aware of.)

People (including corporations) will play any system you set up, from all angles. Sometimes we just have to accept that, other times we have to get rid of it, still other times we have to adjust it to put the incentives and disincentives in place for the results we want.

Comment by James Robertson

I don't have real data, no. But I see the proliferation of useless warning labels, the absurd things that people in schools do to protect themselves (no touching students, ever, for any reason) - and I get disgusted. What I'd like to see is a "losing lawyer pays" system, so that the ambulance chasers had some actual skin in the game

"losing lawyer pays" system

Yes, I agree... some disincentives for working the system.