Have you received a letter saying you may be entitled to compensation?
I'll get a lot.
One person claimed that my union (which New York State forced me to join) may have cheated me on health insurance.
I didn't think so, but I filled out the paperwork.
I received a check for $557.
wonderful!
Except… my lawyer got $7 million.
Is that fair?
Similarly, lawyers have accused The Boston Globe of illegally sharing my clicking habits with Facebook.
I don't really care.
Facebook already knows my clicking habits.
Anyway, I only subscribed for a little bit.
I quickly canceled my subscription to the Globe when I realized most of it was just a rerun of bland left-wing drivel from the New York Times.
And yet, I received a check for $158.
In theory, these class action lawsuits provide protection for consumers, but many of them amount to fraud against consumers.
First, litigation makes almost everything a little more expensive.
Secondly, they deprive us of quality products.
The morning sickness drug Bendectin has been pulled from the market after hundreds of lawsuits alleging side effects, but the FDA has said it is safe.
Lawsuits also contributed to the demise of three-wheeled ATVs.
The lawyers I've spoken to say losing risky products is a good thing: “If they're afraid of people like me, then I'm happy about it,” one lawyer told me.
We pay for his happiness.
Of course, if a company misbehaves, it should be punished.
When Google was found to have been illegally collecting location data from users who had their location history turned off, a lawsuit probably wouldn't have been worth the time or money for any user.
The lawsuit will be more expensive than the amount you can win. Therefore class action.
But the lawyers committed fraud themselves. Paid $62 million To settle the case, the class action lawyers gave themselves $18 million and donated an additional $43 million to their favorite nonprofits.
This included left-wing advocacy groups like the ACLU (which promised to use the funds to support “people of color,” “activists,” and “transgender health care seekers”).
They are members of the victimized class there is nothing.
Why would a judge approve such a deal?
This is because judges are nothing more than lawyers in robes and tend to lean left politically.
They love donating other people's money to their favorite causes.
“This is a huge conflict of interest,” said Anna St. John, whose law firm challenges such settlements.
“There are tens of millions of dollars in slush funds and it is up to the parties and the judge to decide who gets this money,” she said.
“When they have the choice between distributing that money to millions of ungrateful classmates or sending millions of dollars to their alma mater or an organization on whose board they serve, it's clear what they'll do.”
“Six of the lawyers and Google employees involved in this litigation serve on the boards of directors of companies that have received millions of dollars,” she explained.
“Do bad guys get to reward their friends?” I asked.
“Yes, Google is already giving money to organizations that donate to it,” she pointed out.
“It's unclear how this benefits the class when it's simply doing what the defendants are already doing.”
“This is a left-wing fundraiser,” I observed.
“That's true. This is a settlement group for millions of Americans with diverse views, and yet the money goes to far-left causes favored by the lawyers and defendants.”
I have asked the lawyers and judge who approved this transaction to explain why it is not a fraud.
They didn't answer.
America needs lawyers to defend our rights and freedoms just as much as it needs missiles and bombs.
But lawsuits, like missiles or bombs, can be extremely destructive.
We are trying not to use missiles.
You should do the same with your lawyers.
John Stossel is the author of Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hacksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.
