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CLASS ACTION WORK

Summary:

When one defendant, often a large company, injures several people at once or through the same act, those people can sometimes act as a group and sue the defendant in one large lawsuit. Such a lawsuit is called a class action. Generally, the law prefers a class action to several small lawsuits over the same issue when the injured parties share a common incident in the litigation and when there are so many plaintiffs that it would be impractical for each to go to court alone. Plaintiffs benefit from class actions because they can pool their resources to fight a large company. With pooled resources, plaintiffs have a level playing field. It is no longer David vs. Goliath, but instead Goliath vs. Goliath.

If you have been injured along with many other people, you may be able to either join a class action or start one. The Robert Pahlke Law Group is experienced with class actions and has helped several Davids join forces to make Goliath pay for the injuries he has caused. Mr. Pahlke’s class action co-counsel has been from states including New York, Ohio, Colorado, California, Washington, and elsewhere.

Cases:

1. Muhr, Green, Palmer, et al. v. Price Waterhouse

Price Waterhouse, a major corporate accounting firm, failed to properly evaluate financial information provided by one of its corporate partners. This failure resulted in overstated earnings. Plaintiffs won $9,750,000 in a settlement.

2. Staman v. Mountain West

Defendant Mountain West wrongfully added maintenance charges to its billing packages. Specifically, they setup their billing so the default was that clients were overcharged—to avoid the overcharge, clients had to opt-out of the unfair billing scheme. Plaintiffs won a $3,000,000 settlement.

3. Stewart v. Blue Cross Blue Shield

Defendant Blue Cross Blue Shield secretly negotiated discounts with its healthcare providers. It then failed to pass these savings on to its clients. This forced the clients to overpay and unduly enriched the insurance company. Plaintiffs received a settlement of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. Most the settlement went to identifiable plaintiffs. The rest, about $120,000, went to non-profits and charities across Nebraska.

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