Home » Practice Areas »
TWO FIRMS, ONE CAUSE: WE HOLD CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE
Collective and class action representation for pension, consumer and other corporate harm.
James, Vernon & Weeks, P.A., and Merrick Hofstedt & Lindsey PS joined forces to create one, powerful legal team. Our team includes attorneys, paralegals, technology specialists, investigators and staff who have years of experience holding corporations accountable. We use tried and true strategies to empower our clients.
We believe in collective strength. We use strength-in-numbers in collective and class action strategies to level the playing field with even the most powerful corporations. We bring financial strength to our clients and their cases with our ability to advance costs and work under a contingency fee—we don’t get paid unless we recover.
If you have been wronged by a corporation, we are here to help. Whether a corporation took your retirement funds, gouged you with unjust fees, sold you a defective product or harmed you in another way, our team can evaluate your legal right. We have the experience to prosecute just claims with high-quality legal representation for clients in simple or complex cases.
What are Collective and Class Action Civil Lawsuits?
COLLECTIVE ACTION LAWSUITS
Individuals with common claims often do not meet the technical requirements of a class action. In these cases, we create collective action lawsuits by combining individual claims of the same type in one lawsuit against a common defendant. This strategy creates collective power for our clients in three ways:
- Power of the herd. The collective power of the herd is strong and unstoppable, while the power of one is vulnerable. The lion easily picks off a lone zebra, but he is crushed by the stampeding herd. Similarly, corporations defeat just, individual claims every day in the courtroom but are crushed by the collective power of multiple claimants.
- Economic power. Let’s face it, those with greater economic means often obtain greater justice in our legal system. By combining claims, we create economic power for our clients. We spread litigation costs among many clients rather than just one or a few. We can also justify advancing (and risking) greater costs on behalf of collective clients. For example, we commonly advance more than $200,000 in costs in complex cases. If we do so for an individual claimant, that one client would have to reimburse $200,000 from any settlement. However, if we represent 6,000 clients (as we did on one case), the cost burden is reduced to a mere $33.33 per claimant. Reducing the cost burden also helps to facilitate earlier settlement.
- Emotional power. Emotional strength is important when standing up to powerful corporations. Whether it’s an individual or collective case, our Legal Team spends the time and energy necessary to give individual clients attention. Over the years, however, we have seen that cases involving one or two individuals take a greater emotional toll on the client than cases involving numerous clients similarly situated. Indeed, in collective cases our clients often enjoy mutual support and collective emotional strength that far outlasts the corporation’s endurance.
COLLECTIVE ACTION LAWSUITS
Class action lawsuits involve a group of individuals or companies with a common claim that meets the technical requirements for a class action. Navigating these technical requirements is a special skill our Legal Team has acquired, having been judicially appointed as class action counsel in large class action cases. For example, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas appointed our Team to represent more than 6,000 class members who had claims against British Petroleum for illegal reduction of their pension benefits.
Class action cases can involve any number of common claims, including pension, defective product, consumer fraud, and other forms of corporate misconduct. In a class action lawsuit one or more class representatives seek relief under our representation for all class members.
OUR COLLECTIVE AND CLASS ACTION SERVICES:
We provide a full range of legal services for individuals and businesses involved in collective and class action civil matters, including:
- Case evaluation and assessment
- Representation in court
- Negotiations and settlements
Our team is here to guide you through the process and fight for your rights. Our goal is to empower you in the legal process to obtain justice.
If you or someone you know may need legal representation in a collective or class action civil litigation matter, contact JVW today. We are here to help you navigate the complexities of the legal system and bring you justice.
