# Has a class-action lawsuit ever meaningfully benefited class members? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 6, 2019, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589 "2019-05-06T21:49:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/21 "2019-05-07T14:07:52Z")
I know I’ve gotten several cash settlements. I barely remember most of them. One had something to do with price fixing milk and another had something to do with sales of CDs. I think it might have been related to loading spyware on CDs to try to thwart copyright violations. There was something about travel… I’m glad we have class action attorneys looking out for these things. I don’t have time to figure out how I’m getting screwed on my own and even if I did, I wouldn’t have the time or money to seek compensation. Without class action lawsuits, companies just have free rein to screw you for any amount that is too small to chase. ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/22 "2019-05-07T22:16:51Z")
I purchased a VW diesel that was recalled under “dieselgate”. I paid $26,200 for the new car. After the class action lawsuit, I continued to drive the car for four years, right up to the mandatory turn-in date. I sold it back to VW for $29,400. In four years of driving, my car appreciated instead of depreciated. (I loved that car. I wish I could have kept it for ten years before turning it back to VW) ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/23 "2019-05-09T04:45:47Z")
I was a member of a suit against Eotech, the manufacturer of a holographic weapon sight. I turned in my old sight and received a voucher for a replacement. This was about a $3-400 piece of equipment, that I never had issues with considering the nature of the lawsuit. I think I got a free t-shirt too. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/24 "2019-05-09T05:43:47Z")
I got a nice chunk back from BofA. I had a particularly rough couple years financially resulting in a bunch of NSF’s I got back about $800 I should be getting about $600 back from the collapse of the bitcoin exchange [mtgox.com](http://mtgox.com) it was 6 bitcoins that were worth about that at the time… Rather have the 6 coins… ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/25 "2019-05-09T14:31:04Z")
I was a member of a class action against Prosper Marketplace which netted me about $700 over several payments, though the average class member payout was much lower. I also received Amazon credits for the ebook suit. Class action attorneys get a lot of flak for taking such a large share of the settlements when often the class members get token amounts. That’s understandable. But it’s important to remember that those attorneys have taken on 100% of the risk in pursuing the case, and doing so is basically their full-time job, often for years. And class actions have accomplished a lot of good that would be impossible if each class member had to act individually. It feels ridiculous to get a check for a buck-oh-five as a class member while the attorneys got hundreds of thousands, but that suit may have legitimately corrected an injustice that was spread over thousands of people. It’s not feasible for one person to use the courts to correct $1.05 in damages, but thousands of people working together can, and that’s ultimately a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/26 "2019-05-09T15:42:47Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > I purchased a VW diesel that was recalled under “dieselgate”. I paid $26,200 for the new car. After the class action lawsuit, I continued to drive the car for four years, right up to the mandatory turn-in date. I sold it back to VW for $29,400. In four years of driving, my car appreciated instead of depreciated. (I loved that car. I wish I could have kept it for ten years before turning it back to VW) We didn’t do as well as you, but we got $20,000, plus I think $500 from Bosch? for a related settlement. I don’t think these were technically class actions though–Volkswagen voluntarily settled. We also loved the car and would have kept it except for, you know, the horrible polluting thing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/27 "2019-05-09T16:23:03Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > No that would be the the Ford Explorer settlement. & as I remember, you only had something like six months or a year to use the voucher. > > 1. If you bought a product where the poor design caused injury &/or death would you trust that company to buy from them again? > 2. Most people don’t buy a car in the timeframe that the vouchers were good for. If your current car was less that 2-3 years old, you wouldn’t be in the majority if you got a new one within the voucher period. They negotiated a settlement that cost them relatively little. You are missing the point. People who suffered meaningful damages due to the Explorer tire problems were free to opt out of the class and pursue direct recovery from Ford. The class action was for people who weren’t really affected by the defect; maybe they had to purchase some new tires on their own, or got stranded from a blowout, or their vehicle lost residual value because buyers knew they were rollover-prone. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/28 "2019-05-09T21:09:56Z")
we had a chemical fire not too far from home and had to leave home and spend 2 nights in a hotel. We got $1000 to not sue the place that had the fire so that was a sort of class action payment. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/29 "2019-05-10T18:42:21Z")
There have been hefty sums paid out to the residential school survivors, women that sued the RCMP and recently there was an LGBTQ2 settlement announced (all totally and completely justified), but I am not sure if government class-action is the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/30 "2019-05-10T18:47:37Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > I just got a sweet $0.23 class-action lawsuit payout check. I don’t even know what it was for. > > That company paid more for the printing and mailing of the checks than the actual payout. And I would guess a high percentage of those checks go straight in the trash, like mine did. No way! I deposited mine. If a million people just throw away a check for, say, fifty cents, the company in question gets away without paying $500,000. Not on my watch! LOL ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/31 "2019-05-11T00:30:08Z")
I got one from AOL about maybe 18 years ago for around $1000! I didn’t even remember signing up for it, I just got the check one day. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/32 "2019-05-11T01:02:26Z")
Depends on which type of class action you mean- if you’re talking about the ones where there’s a class action over a consumer issue, then yeah, a lot of them have fairly trivial payments. But there are other types of class action suits- the people involved in this [class action](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/nyregion/new-york-city-agrees-to-settlement-over-summonses-that-were-dismissed.html) got $150 per incicent - and my father got over $100K from [this one](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/01/03/Record-415-million-settlement-ends-Continental-Can-pension-suit/6644662878800/) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2019, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589/33 "2019-05-11T04:25:45Z")
The company I work for was cited for antitrust violations in a CL. I got about $13k after a years-long process. It still pissed me off that my own company was conspiring with other companies to mess with its own employees and customers, and I’m glad they paid a price for it regardless of my own benefit. But, yes, it was sweet to get those checks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-class-action-lawsuit-ever-meaningfully-benefited-class-members/833589.md?page=1)