What is a Class Action? What You Need to Know About Class Actions

What You Need to Know About Class Action Lawsuits

What is a class action?

A class action lawsuit is a type of lawsuit that allows a large group of people who were wronged by an individual or company to come together as one to sue them. A situation that may cause a class action lawsuit includes fraud, injuries, discrimination, deceitful advertising, and more.

How do class actions work?

Class action lawsuits are filed because many times, individual cases aren’t strong enough to support an independent lawsuit. But, when numerous people come together who were wronged in the same way by the same person or company, a weak case sometimes becomes much stronger.

Class action lawsuits can be filed by one or more plaintiffs, and others who wish to join can choose to become a class member. If the plaintiffs win the lawsuit, compensation may be awarded, and the court creates a distribution plan to give each class member a percentage. With that said, most class action lawsuits, like many civil lawsuits, are resolved outside of court. Usually, both parties negotiate to reach a resolution before the case reaches the trial phase.

What are the benefits of class actions?

Benefits of a class action lawsuit include combining resources to hire legal counsel, as well as gaining a larger pool of evidence and witnesses, both in quantity, quality, and scope. It also allows all wronged parties to participate in one, aggregated action, rather than many separate lawsuits.

What are the disadvantages of class actions?

There are drawbacks to class action lawsuits. If the plaintiffs win, awards can be quite small in value or be of a non-monetary character. Compensation can sometimes result in just a coupon, replacement products, rebates, or something else of little value. Also, if a plaintiff had plans to sue independently, that right may be automatically forfeited once he or she elects to become a class member.
You should carefully consider the pros and cons when considering either filing or opting-into a class action lawsuit.

Notable class action lawsuits include:

• The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for $20 billion in 2016.
• The Volkswagen emission scandal for $14.7 billion in 2016.
• The Enron fraud scandal for $7.2 billion in 2008.
• Red Bull false advertising settlement for $13 million in 2014.

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This article was inspired by our Tidbit Tuesday series on our YouTube channel. Check it out here!
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Germany Now Holds the Position of Presidency of the Council of the EU

Germany now holds the presidency of the council of the EU

What does this mean for Europe?

On July 1st, 2020, Germany took over the position as the presidency of the council of the EU. That statement may confuse some people at first. No, Germany is not the president of Europe, and no, they did not take the position over by force. What happens is that every 6 months in the European Union, a new country takes over the presidency of Europe to ensure that each country has the opportunity to be represented. There’s not one president of the council, but rather it is run by the national government of the current country in power. The presidency works very closely with the two countries that succeed them. In this case, the two succeeding countries are Portugal and Slovenia. They work together as a trio to put forth an agenda with long term goals outside of their individual agendas.

So, now that Germany holds the presidency position, what is their plan for Europe? Obviously with the current climate of what’s going on in today’s world, overcoming and bouncing back from COVID-19 was at the top of their list. Highlights of their goals include:

• overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic permanently, as well as the economic recovery
• a stronger and more innovative Europe
• a fair Europe
• a sustainable Europe
• a Europe of security and common values
• a strong Europe in the world

What’s great for business owners

What is great for business owners is the fact that they are placing a large emphasis on protecting and strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are the backbone of the European economy and Germany recognizes that. Germany plans on hosting a conference in November where SME owners can come together and discuss ideas on how to make life better for their businesses. This will be very beneficial to business owners in Europe. They also plan on increasing competitiveness for SMEs which will lead to further innovation. This comes around the same time the United States signed the USMCA, which places a large emphasis on uplifting SMEs as well. We wrote an article on that recently, that article can be found here.

Even though Germany has taken over during a stressful time, they seem well prepared for these next 6 months. Good luck to the German presidency!

This article was inspired by our Morning Musing video on this same topic, to watch it, click here!

The entire program for the German presidency can be found here.

Picture credit: euractiv.com

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New Fine Print on Airline Tickets

Do you always read the fine print? Nowadays, the fine print is just thrown into the terms and conditions agreement of a contract and will go unnoticed by most people. If you’ve flown with American Airlines recently, you probably didn’t notice the new fine print on the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you bought your ticket. The new clause is put into the agreement that you automatically make with American Airlines when you buy your ticket. The clause takes away your ability to file a class-action lawsuit against them.

Airline companies like American Airlines are still flying despite COVID-19 still spreading rampantly. With so many people close together on an airplane, it is an easy place for the virus to spread. Knowing this, American Airlines decided to reduce the liability of potentially getting sued by inserting a clause stating “You agree and understand that you will not bring against American Airlines Group, Inc., American Airlines, Inc., or any of its affiliated entities, agents, directors, employees, and/or officers any class action lawsuit related to your access to, dealings with, or use of the Site.”

Airline contracts are known as “take it or leave it” contracts. This means that there is no ability to negotiate your contract with American Airlines. As a customer, you are either all in or all out.

With the potential of hundreds of people on their plane getting COVID-19, the lawsuit that could come from that would be extraordinarily costly.

Your Legal Options

This clause does nothing to reduce the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak on one of their planes, so, what if there is a large outbreak on American Airlines? What are your legal options? You could try to resolve things directly with American Airlines and they may be willing to help you. If not, you can also file a traditional lawsuit against them.

Another legal option that someone could take if they received COVID-19 on an airline flight would be to go to the FAA. Their regulatory body can help you with your customer rights.

If you do decide to fly during this time, make sure you stay safe. Take the proper precautions to protect yourself and those around you.

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Read the American Airlines terms and conditions here.

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This article was inspired by one of our Morning Musings. To watch it, go check out our YouTube channel!

    

How Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises will Benefit from the USMCA

How the USMCA will help Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

The USMCA is a new trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico that replaced NAFTA on July 1st of this year. The agreement places a large emphasis on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in North America, including a new feature: a chapter dedicated to SMEs

SMEs in the U.S. exports more goods to Mexico and Canada, respectively than any other country, exporting over $125 billion combined in goods to the two countries in 2016.

The USMCA also establishes new mechanisms designed to help SMEs with cross-border trade and related issues, as well as new opportunities for more trade and investment opportunities for SMEs.

SME owners who are in underrepresented groups will also be given a larger platform to engage with governmental bodies in North America,  with new and better opportunities to voice their opinions on how to adapt the agreement to help their businesses. This means that the USMCA will be more fluid in order to corroborate with SMEs.

More Benefits

The USMCA also provides other benefits for SMEs, including:

• Not requiring SMEs to open a foreign office in order to do business across borders.
• Reducing costs of transactions across the borders of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
• Protecting the intellectual property of SMEs.
• New mechanisms for ensuring regulatory action related to the USMCA are transparent, effective, and do not hinder SME cross-border operation.

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This article is a transcript from one of BridgehouseLaw’s series: Tidbit Tuesday. To watch the original video, click here.

There are many more benefits to SMEs that the USMCA provides that can be found here.

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