You hear a lot about class action lawsuits but, if you’ve never been a part of one or even if you have, you may not be aware of the following 10 interesting facts about these lawsuits that we learned from an Illinois class action attorney.

10 interesting facts about class action lawsuits

1. Certain things will determine if it is worth bringing a group of people together for a class lawsuit, such as the number of people affected, whether they have the same issues and whether the entire class’ interests will be served by bringing suit.

2. If you lost only about $100, it’s not worth pursuing an action because the filing costs alone will be more than that. However, if 10,000 people lost $100, they can bring a class action lawsuit and costs and attorneys’ fees will come out of whatever the recovery amount is. So, if the case is successful, you will recover something, at least. If not, you are in no worse position than you were before.

3. If you decide that you don’t want to be part of a case, you can still make your situation known to the Illinois Attorney General Department of Consumer Fraud, your city’s consumer service department, as well as the Better Business Bureau.

4. You may not want to be part of a lawsuit and, instead, prefer to bring the case on your own. However, there are instances where a judge may require that similar cases be part of a class claim so that the defendant does not incur excessive costs by repeatedly defending similar cases.

5. The four most common types of class action lawsuits are employment related (such as a group of workers affected by an illegal act of the employer), securities law (such as a group of investors harmed by the wrongful acts of one company), consumer fraud (such as a group of consumers harmed by one defendant) and product liability (such as a group of people harmed by a defective product).

6. These lawsuits could, in some cases, have millions of plaintiffs. That is why a “lead plaintiff” is selected to attend meetings, depositions and possibly testify at trial. This person may be selected because he or she will make a good witness and because his situation is a good representation of what the whole class has experienced.

7. The lead plaintiff could receive more money from the recovery amount, as determined by the judge, than the rest of the group for to compensate for his or her time and effort.

8. Attorneys that handle these cases do not ask for any payment up front. Rather, they receive a court-approved percentage of the recovery amount, if any.

9. We think it is important to select an attorney with at least 10 years of experience handling claims to the one you are pursuing and that he or she is part of a financially stable firm that can foot the bill for costs and fees during the litigation of the suit.

10. Illinois class action rules and regulations can be very intricate and there are also federal rules that might apply, which can cause your case to end up in federal court. Your experienced attorney should be very familiar with all of these.

There is more to class lawsuits than the above but these are some the interesting facts about these types cases.

To learn more visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/ClassActionConsumerFraud.htm

Michael Helfand has been an Illinois attorney since 1997 and is founder of http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/TypesofCases.htm the leading resource for Illinois lawyer referrals and legal guidance.

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In movies, we often are shown the legal process of class action lawsuits. Why might this be? Class action lawsuits are inherently dramatic, because they involve a large number of plaintiffs and a great wrong that has affected all of them, and maybe the public at large.

There are many advantages and disadvantages of taking your class as a class action suit. Advantages include the very reason why this type of case was invented and formed-when there is a large group of people who have the same arguments against the same person, company, government. In some cases it is just more efficient to group all the cases together, because the defense is going to be the same, and settlement is so large that there will be less paperwork in awarding a large settlement, versus many tiny ones.

Another advantage is the old adage “strength in numbers.” With more people, there is more evidence, and shows that this may not be an isolated incidence. This can lean towards the sympathetic court system and help the plaintiffs win the settlement they deserve. If one person has a stronger case, the ones with weaker cases can still benefit from a settlement.

The main disadvantage for those who join a class action suit is that if someone is proved not to have a case it can affect the settlement amount, as well as the overall ruling. No one may receive any settlement, which could work against all. Class action suits are also very expensive, so even if a settlement is won, the lawyer fees are going to take a large chunk out of the total settlement.

Although this is a group case, it does not mean that the settlement of trial refers to every plantiff. These so called “mass actions” can work for some and work against others-it just depends on the case. Mass action does not really save or earn people more money, but in reality, can get in the way of settlement money that some people are relying on to help them live normal lives.

For More Information

If you would like more information concerning personal injury or class action suits, visit www.attorneysandlawyers4you.com today!

Joseph Devine

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Construction accidents are one of the most common work related personal injuries. Construction injuries may be the result of machinery failure involving fork lifts, cranes, front end loaders and any other piece of construction machinery found on the job site. They may also involve faulty safety equipment, falling debris, lack of proper training for construction workers, improperly assembled scaffolding, structural collapse, electrical fires, electrocution and a slew of other job site violations.

Under the U.S. Department of Labor, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) must protect those who work in the construction industry. OSHA guarantees a certain level of safety for any construction worker who works on high risk job sites and is exposed to hazardous conditions. In addition, the State of Oregon protects construction workers under the Oregon’s Employer Liability Law. This law requires all construction companies engaged in dangerous work to take every necessary precaution in order to prevent worker injury on the job site.

Construction is a dangerous profession and there are many hazards in the construction workplace. While these state and federal regulations are necessary, they offer only a small amount of comfort to construction workers and their families. In many cases, construction workers are victims of irresponsible employers and are exposed to unnecessary risk while at work. It is also common for third party members, such as contractors and subcontractors, to be present on the job site, creating hazardous and chaotic conditions for the workers.

No matter what construction company you work for, it is the responsibility of the construction company to educate their workers on proper safety precautions and to make sure the job site meets all safety regulations. The Department of Labor and Industries examined construction injuries over a four year period. They found the following seven injuries to be the most common (they also accounted for 92 percent of all compensable claims):

o Work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, back and upper extremities

o Workers struck by heavy machinery or falling objects

o Workers pinned up against a wall by machinery or motor vehicles

o Workers caught inside or underneath a piece of machinery

o Slips or falls on ground level of the construction site

o Falls from an elevated height of the construction site

o General motor vehicle injuries

If you or someone you know has been injured on a construction site, contact a personal injury lawyer to help you with your case. An experienced personal injury attorney will know how to deal with multiple insurance policies, identify all parties involved in the construction process and help you figure out who is responsible for the construction injury.

Gary Susak has been a personal injury lawyer in Portland, Oregon for over 35 years. The construction accident lawyers at his law firm, Susak & Powell have over 100 years combined experience. If you think you need to retain the services of a construction accident lawyer, contact our offices for a free initial consultation.

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Strict Product liability is indicating to the liability of all the parties among the procession of manufacturing a product for damages caused by the product This includes the manufacturer of the small piece, the assembler of the product the wholesaler and the retail store owner. Should a product have a defect, which can cause harm to the consumer of the product or any one borrowing the product receiving the product as a gift, etc. are all defendants of the product’s liability suit.

While products are usually considered to be physical personal property, products liability has extended that definition to include intangibles like gas, natural like pets, real estate like your house, and writing like books or navigational charts. California laws require all manufactures of products to label them with a warning if they are painted with lead paint or any other harmful elements.

In any court of law, one must be able to prove the product to be defective. There are three types of product defects, which incur liability law suits. These are design defects, manufacturing defects, and defects in marketing.

Design defects are inbuilt. They exist in the design therefore are there before it is manufactured. The item might perform the job it was designed to do fairly well, but it can be unduly dangerous to use due to a design flaw.

Manufacturing defects happen during the making or the mass production of the product In this case not all of the products are defective only a few.

Defects in marketing have to do with the improper instructions and failures to warn consumer of latent dangers in the product.

Product liability is usually judged as a strict liability offense. Strict liability wrongs are not concerned with how careful the defendant was. Converted to products liability terms, a defendant is liable when it is revealed that the product is defective. It is immaterial the great care exercised by the manufacturer or supplier took, if the product is defective to the point of causing harm, they will still be liable for it. An experienced attorney can help you through the difficult process and assist you in receiving compensation for the injuries you have suffered

For more information about all types of injuries, accidents, and wrongful death lawsuits visit the Injury Lawyer Group.

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A recent report has found that Americans are more frightened of dying at the hands of their doctor than they are of a plane crash. The overwhelming majority of those who participated in the survey said that information about malpractice suits and medical errors would be the single most deciding factor in trusting a healthcare provider. These people must have heard that medical errors cause more deaths in the United States every year than car accidents, AIDS, or breast cancer.

In fact, for the airline industry to parallel medical errors in mortality rates a 280-person jet would have to crash every day of the year. This would account for the over 100,000 people who die annually due to complications in medical care, not to mention the nearly 2 million who are maimed and disabled. This malady is called iatrogenic disease, a disease that is a direct result of medical care. What is causing this epidemic? Many agree that the cause is over-treatment. More medicine is administered than necessary, people are hospitalized unnecessarily, and doctors prescribe drugs instead of healthy lifestyle choices. This is a major problem and it shows no signs of stopping.

In the ten year period between 1983 and 1993 the incidence of death by medical error, or iatrogenic disease, jumped 260% overall and 850% among patience receiving outpatient care. These statistics could only be an indication of the true numbers, because medical error is not often recorded on death certificates. Some people blame the increased number of deaths on a greater number of prescriptions, but the number of prescriptions issued has increased less than 40% in 10 years, compared with the 260% increased death rate. Instead, some doctors blame increased usage of anesthesia, especially among those receiving outpatient care.

Medical malpractice insurance rates have been skyrocketing, causing a small crisis among doctors who must be insured in order to practice. They complain of medical malpractice lawsuits going out of control, large cities awarding record settlements, too many people filing claims. Well can you blame people for filing claims? Doctors must be held accountable for their prescriptions, and if a doctor writes you a prescription that hurts you they deserve to be taken to court! This is truly an epidemic, and it must be stopped by holding irresponsible healthcare providers responsible. One in five Americans has experienced medical errors directly or has a family member who has suffered a medical error. If you feel you have suffered unnecessarily at the hands of a doctor, seek legal council and work it out with a lawyer.

If you have more questions, contact a medical error attorney or read about other medical malpractice cases at http://www.hugesettlements.com.

If you use this article, please include these links.

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Often, individuals seek the assistance of healthcare providers to receive treatment for their medical ailments. In some cases, though, individuals get the exact opposite of what they seek. Medical malpractice is typically considered to be a negligent action on the part of a healthcare practitioner that results in harm to a patient.

This negligence may cause an individual to suffer a serious injury. Unfortunately, it may also cause some individuals to pass away. Wrongful death stemming from medical malpractice is a serious issue that should not go unpunished when it occurs.

Wrongful death may result from a number of negligent actions that can occur in a healthcare facility. What usually separates these cases from the ones in which individuals only receive injury is usually either the severity of the negligent act or the patient’s initial condition.

Actions that may cause an individual to pass away from botched medical care include:

• Incorrect or delayed treatment
• Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose
• Understaffing due to employer negligence
• Surgical errors and malpractice
• Medication interactions

Each of these actions may be easy to commit, but the results of them may cost a patient his or her life. When this happens, the medical facility that employs the medical professional who is responsible for the wrongful death is usually accountable.

The families of medical malpractice victims who pass away may be entitled to financial compensation. These individuals should seek experienced legal help in their pursuit of this compensation for their loved ones’ deaths.

Though pursuing financial compensation for the loss of a loved one may not seem like an appropriate action, it is important to note that this is often the best way to hold responsible individuals accountable for their negligence.

If your loved one passed away after suffering an act of medical malpractice, discuss your legal rights and options with the Pennsylvania wrongful death attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C.

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Mesothelioma may be a form of cancer, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t legal issues involved. Mesothelioma lawyers specialize in making the connection to asbestos exposure.

Mesothelioma may be a very rare form of cancer, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t associated with an exposure to a certain substance. By now, you know what that substance is – asbestos. You might be surprised to learn that the correlation between exposure to the substance and the occurrence of the cancer is not absolute. That being said, it is sufficient that courts have unilaterally found manufacturers of asbestos liable for subsequent cancer results.

The issue in Mesothelioma lawsuits usually boils down to two issues. The first is identifying when exposure took place. If you can’t prove exposure, you surely can’t prove any defendant in particular should be at fault. The second factor is causation. Exposure isn’t enough. You must also show that the exposure resulted in the eventual Mesothelioma diagnosis.

Mesothelioma lawyers are old hands at these issues. The same defenses come up in every case, so they develop strategies for dealing with those defenses. Mesothelioma lawyers have private investigators and staff that will back track through time to find out where and when exposure occurred. It might have been while working in a shipyard or perhaps laying water pipes for a city. Yes, water pipes were actually lined with asbestos for years. Perhaps the exposure occurred when you or your loved one was working on building a school that incorporated asbestos products such as popcorn ceiling, siding, roof shingles or tile.

Once the exposure has been nailed down, Mesothelioma lawyers have the medical experts that are critical to building the causation side of the case. The issues become very technical, but the basic idea is you must show that exposure resulted in some harm. In this case, that is obviously Mesothelioma. Ah, but is one day of exposure enough to trigger it? How about 5? How about 25? Only a crafty lawyer can make the complex medical issues clear to a jury or judge.

Mesothelioma lawyers are experts in their field. They usually offer free consultations and work on a contingency fee basis. If you believe asbestos exposure has occurred, contact one of these Mesothelioma lawyers today.

Thomas Ajava writes about Mesothelioma lawyers as well as other Mesothelioma issues for MesotheliomaAttorneyAssistance.com.

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A whistleblower is a person who uncovers fraud against the government and brings suit on behalf of the government.

For example, if you work for a health care provider and you observe that employees are exaggerating claims of time spent attending to Medicare patients, you may have a potential whistleblower action because the government is being defrauded.

However, if the employees were exaggerating claims of time spent attending to privately insured patients, it would still be unethical but it would not be a whistleblower case because the government is not being defrauded in that scenario.

Another example of a whistleblower case would be where you work for a manufacturer that is knowingly providing defective equipment to the military.

Whistleblower cases, also called by the Latin derivative “qui tam” cases, are filed under the Federal False Claims Act (where the federal government is being defrauded) or, in Illinois, under the Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act (designed to protect the state government from being defrauded).

These laws allow the whistleblower to receive a portion of whatever penalty the wrongdoer eventually has to pay the government. This is typically about 15 to 25% under the Federal False Claims Act. Under the state statute, it can range anywhere from 10 to 30%.

These laws also contain provisions to protect the whistleblower in the event of retaliation by his or her employer. For example, if the employee is discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened or harassed for bringing the situation to light, the whistleblower can obtain relief under the statute.

Under the False Claims Act, you cannot bring an action under the statute without attorney representation. Qui Tam cases can be extremely complex and it is important to hire an attorney who handles these types of actions.

Under both the state and federal statutes, the government, not the defendant, is first served with the complaint and has the option to decide whether or not to take over pursuit of the case. If it chooses not to, the whistleblower may proceed on behalf of the government. An experienced qui tam attorney will be aware of such procedural nuances in these types of actions.

Unlike many attorneys that charge their clients based on an hourly rate, most qui tam attorneys work on a contingency basis. So, if you “win,” your attorney gets a percentage of the recovery. Otherwise, he does not recover anything. Also, while litigating the case, your attorney should pay all fees and costs associated with the litigation.

To learn more visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/IllEmployLaws.htm

Michael Helfand has been an Illinois attorney since 1997 and is founder of http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/Illinois-Whistleblower-Lawsuits.htm the leading resource for Illinois lawyer referrals and legal guidance.

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Age Discrimination

Over time, individuals often gain valuable work experience that can be useful in obtaining new employment later on. When hiring, many businesses look for employees who have prior experience in the field and are familiar with the requirements of that particular position. Unfortunately, applicants may face employment discrimination based solely on their age and not their qualifications.

If an employer practices age discrimination against applicants or employees, the victims may be eligible to pursue legal compensation. Employment laws prohibit employers from making decisions regarding hiring, promotion, and compensation based on age alone, and businesses that engage in such practices may face penalties for their actions.

Employers may attempt to justify age-based decisions by claiming that they wish to groom younger employees for long-term employment at the company. They may also claim that they are protecting the older applicant from being uncomfortable in an office that has a younger workforce. Neither excuse is reason to refuse a qualified applicant.

Businesses are required to give proper consideration to all applicants who are appropriately qualified for the open position. If an applicant does not have the required qualifications or will not reasonably be able to perform the duties of the position, he or she usually cannot claim age discrimination took place. Individuals claiming discrimination usually need to show that the employer made the decision based on age and not qualifications in the hiring process.

Employees can also experience age discrimination within the workplace. If an employer refuses to promote or give pay raises based on the age of the employee, the practice may be considered age discrimination. Again, the law requires that decisions about promotions and compensation should be considered in the fairest possible manner and should be based on eligibility and performance.

Employers can protect themselves against discrimination lawsuits by making sure that all decisions are made based on qualifications and performance. Promotions and raises should be given to employees who display good work ethic and show dedication to the company, and deserving individuals should not be passed over. If decisions within the workplace are made in a fair and justifiable manner, employees will have no claim to employment discrimination.

If you have been the victim of age discrimination when applying for a job or in your place of business, you may be eligible for compensation. For more information about age discrimination and the law, visit the website of the San Antonio employment lawyers of Melton & Kumler, LLP

Joseph Devine

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Lawsuit loans are also called pre-settlement loans, lawsuit cash advances or lawsuit funding.  They are a piece of the little known field of legal finance and are meant to aid in relieving the financial strain, for you and your family, brought on at the time you’re pending winning certain types of lawsuits. Lawsuit Loans permit financially strapped plaintiffs to acquire an advance on a potential settlement in order to make payment on costs such as legal fees and living costs. They can render a much needed financial quick-fix if the purpose of the lawsuit leaves you low on funds.

If you’re hurt in a collision, what usually occurs when you anticipate a settlement is you wait for your medical care and wait even more so you can get well. Then you are required to hold on until your case is settled or goes to litigation and if you gain victory then you hold on a while longer to get what you’ve won! In the interim, nothing else is going to wait for you. The rent or mortgage still has to get paid, your bills do not care that you just won a case, your belly still rumbles when you’re starved, and if you’re not unlike me you perhaps enjoy running water and electricity. Bottom line life does not wait!

Now the good thing about lawsuit loans is that they are not even in fact loans. Meaning, you do not need to pay anything back if you do not win your case. If you do win, the company that granted you the advance will take a portion of your earnings, anywhere from 10-15% on average. If you think that is big, take into account that you’re inclined to get next to nothing from the insurance company directly. Individuals who obtain an attorney to represent them win about 5 times as much money on average.  They will even pay attorney fees if you have a firm case. This basically removes any gamble for you and lets you afford an attorney to go after a case for you.

To put it in a nutshell, this form of legal finance is not based on previous credit or bankruptcy status and really isn’t a loan at all since there is no payment if you do not win your case. A better term for it is probably “lawsuit cash advance”. A lawsuit loan can produce a very appropriate financial solution to help with those annoying bills while you’re waiting for payment. Lawsuit funding businesses take the risk out of defending your rights and reaping the payment you have coming.

Bradlee Schlieper is a   lawsuit loan specialist and advocate for   legal finance methods that help people get access to justice.  For more information on plaintiff litigation finance, visit http://www.mountaintopmtg.net/lawsuit-cash-advance-loans.htm

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