Protecting What's Right

Yes, we know that you are busy. But taking part in a class action lawsuit is akin to voting: it is one of the most important ways to protect consumers (AKA you and me) from corporate misdeeds.

Instead of one person taking on a billion dollar business in court, class actions allow an efficient process for hundreds of individuals to have their collective voice heard. It’s the best way individuals can battle powerful companies and their powerful attorneys in a fair fight.

Unfortunately, corporate fraud sometimes goes undetected because it involves only a relatively small amount of money to any one individual. For example, if you were swindled out of $1 by a fraudulent fee, you likely wouldn’t file a lawsuit on your own. But if 5 million other people were also swindled out of the dollar it’s a way to hit the company in the pocketbook. The goal shouldn’t be to get the dollar back; it should be to make the company pay the $5 million they owe consumers to correct deceptive practices.

A class action lawsuit begins when an attorney files a case on behalf of his or her client against a company for committing alleged fraudulent acts. At first the case only involves a handful of plaintiffs, but gradually hundreds or even millions more who were harmed come forward to join the class action. When large numbers join the suit, it encourages wrongdoers to change bad behavior because it affects the company’s bottom line.

It’s important to know that class actions are not filed to get a windfall for the plaintiff. It’s about forcing a company to give up illegally earned profits or get the executives to change fraudulent practices.

Taking part in a class action is easy as filling out a form, or responding to an email. In this way it’s much like voting. One vote probably doesn’t make a difference, but if hundreds of people get together, there is an ability to effect change. An apathetic public is less likely to make a company change its behavior than one that is outraged by fraud. For a company facing a class action, silence is golden. Consumers can break the silence by joining a class action.

To learn more about class actions, visit the Baron and Budd website.

Chances are, the last time you got a direct mail notification about a class action, you threw it away. And why wouldn’t you? Why bother with signing a totally indiscernible document that, at best, will net you a hundred bucks?

Besides – class actions don’t seem to have much impact. After all, the “issues” are usually small change items and the lawyers make off with all the money – right?

Wrong.

A recent study by the finance and accounting departments of the business schools at Rutgers University and Emory University found that class action lawsuits are a very effective way to

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For anyone out on a weekend spending spree (a.k.a. running errands), it’s pretty simple: you check your bank balance before you leave the house and do the simple subtraction in your head as you hand your debit card to the mega (and well-priced) grocery store, the cleaners, the coffee shop and wherever.

And, by Monday morning when you awake from your jam-packed weekend, you check again just to make sure you did the mental math right.

So what could go wrong?

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Just last week, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) issued a Hazard Alert for the popular hair straightening treatment Brazilian Blowout. The very same day, the class in the class action lawsuit against GIB, the maker of Brazilian Blowout, was certified by a California federal court and Baron & Budd was appointed class counsel.

The law firm of Baron & Budd filed a lawsuit against GIB in November of 2010, regarding their products Brazilian Blowout Solution and Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution. The suit claimed that GIB misled salon owners and hair stylists with deceptive marketing and advertising about the Brazilian Blowout Solution. The product, touted as “formaldehyde-free” and “healthy” for the hair, was found to have incredibly high levels of the harmful chemical in it by tests conducted by Oregon OSHA and California OSHA.

Find out more about the Brazilian Blowout litigation, along with Baron & Budd’s involvement here.

Earlier this week, Consumer Reports (CR) magazine issued a “don’t buy” warning that the 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV has a handling problem that could cause vehicle rollover.  In response, Toyota suspended sales of the SUV within hours of the Consumer Reports warning.

The Lexus group has declined to issue a voluntary recall, but the Lexus general manager has said that the situation is being taken “very seriously.”  He also said that Lexus will provide loaner cars to concerned customers while the automaker seeks a remedy.

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Recently I received a call for a person who I did not know.  I explained to the caller that he had the wrong number, assuming that I would hear no more from him.  But the next day I received a message for the same caller asking for the same person, stating that it was about a private matter and, only if I were that person, to call the 800 number provided.  To put an end to the calls, I called the number, again explained their error, and asked that they take my number off their list.

I assumed that would be the end of it.  But it wasn’t.  The calls were coming from a collection agency.  The collection agent, in an antagonistic tone, asked my name, my company’s name, whether and how I knew the person they were trying to contact, etc. etc.  Perturbed by this point, I again repeated that my number had no connection to the person they were looking for—who I did not know—and that if they did not stop calling, I would report them to my state Attorney General and Federal Trade Commission. I have not heard from them again.

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