Quote:
Originally Posted by EE-BO
My point with the asbestos example is that in that particular type of class action where plaintiffs have widely varying degrees of real or potential future injury, there is a great potential for abuse as my example laid out.
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People CHOOSE to be involved in class-actions. I am a member of several potential classes due to my purchase of the incredible exploding Toshiba laptop computer. I can choose to be involved in the class and receive whatever settlement ends up being negotiated OR I can say "You know what? I want to do this on my own!" and hire a lawyer to go after Toshiba on my own. Many of the people in the asbestos lawsuits didn't have the time or inclination to hire somebody to do it on their own, so the class-action suit was better than the NOTHING they would have gotten otherwise. Those clients chose to take the class-action suit. Nobody made them.
There are methods of punishing lawyers who are engaging in unethical behavior, so there is no need for the government oversight of something such as Sarbanes-Oxley. If you think those lawyers weren't acting ethically, report them to the State Bar. They have all sorts of committees set up to regulate malpractice and punishments range from restitution to a client to complete disbarment.