Lawyers Are Using Class-Action Suits to Game the System

As originally designed, the class action device is an important legal innovation to help plaintiffs join together to advance legitimate legal claims. But in recent years, trial lawyers have twisted the class action device beyond recognition to advance their own monetary interests at the expense of the rights of defendants and the public at large. This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two important cases that could make it easier for trial lawyers to “certify” even the flimsiest of proposed class actions (“certifying” a class action means that a judge has determined that a class action meets certain legal standards and the lawsuit can proceed as representing a large group of plaintiffs, most of whom will never know that they were part of the lawsuit, rather than each individual plaintiff deciding for him or herself whether to proceed with a lawsuit).