Bozeman Class Action Lawyer
As you have listened to the radio, watched television, or even surfed the internet, you might have come across an advertisement where attorneys were looking for victims who’d suffered harm from using prescription medications and other defective products.
If you saw one of these, you likely heard that they were looking for those affected because they were forming a “class” of victims in preparation for filing a lawsuit against the manufacturer whose actions harmed them. While lawsuits like these get filed for more than just product liability issues, a decent percentage of them are based around defective and dangerous products since the injuries sustained are often similar between victims.
Here at Western Justice Associates, PLLC, our Bozeman class action lawyers have spent their legal careers advocating on behalf of injury victims. What we like about class action lawsuits, though, is that they afford us the ability to help even more injury victims than we can do by taking on and trying cases one by one. This allows more victims to have their cases heard so that they can hopefully achieve more timely resolutions, including the recovery of potential settlement awards, more quickly.
Talk with a member of our legal team about the harm you’ve suffered so we can advise you of your rights per Montana and federal law. That initial consultation is free, and we only charge attorney fees if we recover a settlement for you. So, call or email our law firm now.
What a Class Action Lawsuit Is
If you’ve heard a commercial for a class action lawsuit, then you might have heard the attorneys refer to themselves as currently forming a “class.” That latter term generally refers to a group of individuals that all contend they suffered similar harm by using a product. However, class action lawsuits can be filed on behalf of those who have been harmed in other ways by the same defendant, including, for example, in cases involving:
- Workers’ rights violations
- Environmental hazard liability situations, like oil spills or water contamination concerns
- Investment or securities fraud
- Data breaches
- Much more
The key with class actions is that a group of similarly poorly treated or harmed individuals band together and file suit as opposed to doing so in their own individual capacity. If you’re unsure whether your legal matter warrants filing an individual lawsuit or a class action one, contact our law firm. We’ll put you in contact with a Bozeman class action lawyer who can help you decide whether you meet the grounds to file suit and, if so, what type is best.
Why Do Victims Join Classes Instead of Filing Lawsuits Individually?
We don’t recommend to just any person harmed by a dangerous product or mistreated in some other way to pursue a class action lawsuit.
Instead, we carefully consider the specifics surrounding their respective case before recommending that prospective or existing clients do so. In instances where we suggest that a potential client join a class, a common question we receive in return is, “Why?”
Ask any Bozeman class action lawyer why they would suggest that a client abandon the idea of filing an individual lawsuit and instead pursue the alternative, and they’d likely provide one or more of the following justifications for doing so:
- Attorneys pool their resources: Class action cases are unique in that many attorneys, sometimes in the same area, like here in Bozeman or greater Gallatin County or maybe Montana as a whole, but most commonly geographically displaced across the nation, band together to conduct investigations, uncover evidence, etc. Lawyers putting their minds and efforts together can make it so that the group they represent has stronger cases.
- There’s strength in numbers: Generally, a class comprises individuals who’ve suffered varying degrees of harm. The sheer number of plaintiffs claiming they were hurt by a common defendant can easily send a message about how potentially negligent they must have been, thus impacting the verdict a jury reaches in such a case, which can result in decisions in favor of the plaintiffs.
- Pursuing legal action wouldn’t be cost-effective without joining a class: Although attorneys like ours take on injury cases on a contingency basis, lawyers typically urge personal injury clients with relatively minor injuries to pursue claims on their own simply because the value of their case won’t likely be large enough to cover any filing fees, securing records, and the legal team’s investment in the case. It’s easier for class action lawyers to take on cases where victims have suffered wider ranges of injuries because there are so many more plaintiffs, meaning our investment in building a case and presenting it in court makes more sense as far as time and money investment are concerned since settlements tend to be larger to cover our efforts.
Understanding the Class Action Case Process
While you might be somewhat familiar with the civil claims process if you’ve ever had an auto accident, most people, fortunately, haven’t been harmed in any other way that has necessitated them pursuing the matter in Gallatin County District Court and certainly not federal court either.
Let’s explain how the class action process works:
- Step #1: Building the class: Cases like these commence with a collective of attorneys banding together and stepping forward to publicly announce that they’re looking to add members to the class of affected plaintiffs.
- Step #2: Getting the lawsuit certified: The next step involves lawyers seeking to get the class certified. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 23 outlines how a judge can decide that a class action lawsuit can move forward when the amount of plaintiffs lining up to sue a defendant is so numerous that each of them pursuing individual claims would unnecessarily clog up the legal system. This certification paves the way for parties to negotiate an out-of-court settlement in the case to avoid a trial.
- Step #3: Negotiate an out-of-court settlement: Once attorneys are satisfied they’ve advertised that they’re looking for plaintiffs long enough and they’ve recruited every possible interested one, they typically start with pre-litigation negotiations.
- Step#4: Take the case to trial: Should those not prove fruitful, the case may go to trial. A verdict in favor of the plaintiff leads to a jury deciding on a settlement amount.
- Step #5: Divvying up the settlement secured: Attorneys’ fees are paid from that settlement before, and then the remaining settlement amount gets split between victims. Generally, the more severe a plaintiff’s injuries are, the higher the portion of the settlement they receive. Those with less significant losses receive a smaller share.
Deciding What Kind of Legal Action to Take
It’s possible to file a lawsuit if you, as the alleged victim, can show that a dangerous or defective product, a service, or action you received caused you to suffer physical injuries or other types of harm such as:
- A wrongful death
- Mental health (emotional or behavioral) impacts
- A violation of your rights
- A damaged reputation
- Financial losses
- Property damage
However, as mentioned above, the more plaintiffs harmed who band together, the stronger a message it sends about causation and the impact the negligence had on others, which can, in turn, generate larger settlements.
Large payouts penalize defendants so they hopefully don’t repeat similar negligent acts, allowing victims with more minor injuries to get compensation in cases where they might otherwise not.
Discuss what happened to you and the impact it has had on your life with a Bozeman class action lawyer. Doing so is completely free, and since our attorneys work on a contingency basis, we don’t get paid unless you do it yourself, whether you ultimately take legal action in an individual capacity or as part of a class.
So, contact us for a complimentary consultation with an attorney here at Western Justice Associates, PLLC, to discuss your rights and the best options available to you.