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another recent class action case for which we
have filed on behalf of our clients. Another ruling in
2016 entitled Illinois purchasers of flat-screen LCD
televisions and other devices to damages based
on a similar instance of price-fixing. In this case, a
specific dollar amount of restitution, ranging from
$20 to $270, was awarded per device purchased
over the preceding ten years.
Compare the damages for an individual
consumer, who had perhaps purchased three such
devices during that time period, and one of our
clients, who had purchased thousands. Moreover,
in this specific case, due to a dearth of claims filed
in relation to the settlement pool, damages were
awarded to claimants beyond initial expectations;
for, once defined, all funds from a settlement must
be distributed. The result was a transformative
success for a client that had not even been initially
aware of the class action suit.
We can take a few crucial insights from
these case outlines. First, class action suits are
diverse and unpredictable. It requires vigilance to it is often the case that the full range of options
be aware of pertinent suits in the first place, and it by which claimants may be informed of and given
takes a major investment in time to develop a plan access to resources and documentation relevant
for filing claims in relation to the expectations and to filing as class members is not always taken
requirements of claims administrators. Second, advantage of by those administering settlements.
and relatedly, both the difficulty and the rewards of The result can be a difficult tangle of printed and
class action suits are magnified when the claimant online information that is distributed to many but
is a large and complex business rather than an not all members of a class with rights to claim
individual consumer. settlement funds. This distribution takes place in
the form of documents that class members often
Waiting It Out have difficulty understanding or properly completing
Part of the explanation for these difficulties by deadlines determined in the settlement process
comes, unfortunately, from the fact that claims and by claims administrators. Every case has class
administration practices for class action settlements members mistakenly opting out by completing
are somewhat variable. They are frequently overseen forms in an erroneous manner, or unable to collect
by claims administrators with their own notification the documents necessary to establish their class
practices and documentation requirements. These status in time to reach the deadline, or who are
also change, of course, in relation to the specific simply confused about what their class status
nature of each suit. Providing notice to potential means.
claimants involves procedures that are somewhat Adding to these difficulties general to filing
standardized by the relatively stringent guidelines set as a class member is the fact that class action
by law (McGovern 2009:124-125). Nevertheless, suits cover virtually every consumer interaction,

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