# Have class action lawsuits ever actually benefited the class?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-class-action-lawsuits-ever-actually-benefited-the-class/694800>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 4, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-class-action-lawsuits-ever-actually-benefited-the-class/694800 "2014-08-04T16:54:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-class-action-lawsuits-ever-actually-benefited-the-class/694800/21 "2014-08-05T18:35:10Z")

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I know someone who got a uterine infection while using the Dalkon Shield IUD, and after which was unable to have children. She used her part of the settlement as the down payment on a house.

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**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:** [August 5, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-class-action-lawsuits-ever-actually-benefited-the-class/694800/22 "2014-08-05T18:48:42Z")

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> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> But isn’t that about a1/3 of what he should have gotten? If i read the article right, the company still took 2/3 of the member’s money.

Well, yeah. It’s a _settlement_.

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-class-action-lawsuits-ever-actually-benefited-the-class/694800/23 "2014-08-06T02:24:52Z")

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I got a couple hundred from a class action suit against Toshiba that I didn’t even know I was part of. My daughter got several thousand from the real estate company that bought Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan from MetLife. The issue was that the company had been getting a tax concession in return for keeping the rents lower than market value and hers was market value (and too high to be rent=controlled).

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