One day while watching TV, my fiance saw a legal commercial regarding product liability. It was something along the lines of “if you used Serenity ear wax remover and suffered enlarged earlobes then you should contact the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe. You may be owed money”.
My fiance then brought up what I thought was a very interesting question: could these commercials be funded by the company being “targeted” <wink wink> as a way to pre-emptively settle under ideal terms for the “targeted” company thus avoiding a large payout later in a bigger lawsuit?
These law firms are testing the waters to see if they can add plaintiffs to their existing case to maximize profits and strengthen their case.
The scenario goes something like this:
Prospective client walks in the door and says “I was wronged by Company’s Brand X and I want satisfaction!” The lawyers calculate that to do all the necessary work (research hours, hiring experts, independent testing, and so on) for only a single client wouldn’t net them a profit. So they run a few cheap TV ads seeking others that can be added to the lawsuit.
You’re also starting to see this online now with targeted advertising on product keywords.
I think these ads are AFTER the settlement. It would not surprise me if the company was happy to agree to a sweetheart deal that included large legal fees in return for limited liability down the road. IIRC the asbestos lawsuits are like this - if you didn’t sign up by X date, you can no longer sue them.
Asbestos suits are still being litigated today, though it’s much quieter now. Most of the deals struck were in favor of workers, particularly because sign/symptoms may not occur for years.