4 ms·

I know someone who works in a U.S. federal court and is familiar with these kinds of issues. According to them, the judge's statement is very unusual: Filing f

I know someone who works in a U.S. federal court and is familiar with these kinds of issues. According to them, the judge's statement is very unusual: Filing fees have no bearing on the case's designation as a mass torte of some kind, and to do otherwise would be unethical (of course). Each district court's budget is determined by a nationwide court office based on workload, not on revenue; this isn't a business. However, each court does keep the fees it collects. Also, if the clerk's office is unhappy, it would address that directly to the attorneys in more or less subtle ways; in fact, the clerk's office could insist on separate cases being filed. A federal court's clerk's office is hardly helpless; you don't want to mess with them if you're an attorney. Finally, they said this seems like a straightforward mass torte. But my contact is puzzled about why the plaintiffs have not already filed this case as a class action (which is one kind of mass torte).

SilasX 10y ago
So, wait, if you have to assume each victim is a separate case with $400 of fees just to file, isn't that just begging bad people to commit whatever torts don't exceed $400/person?
- hackuser 10y ago
  > if you have to assume each victim is a separate case with $400 of fees just to file, isn't that just begging bad people to commit whatever torts don't exceed $400/person? It's much worse than that. It's not worth suing someone for even $10,000 in damages, as the article points out, due to the time and costs involved. Good lawyers bill $400+ per hour. $100,000 is a small case. Class actions are intended as a solution to the very problem you describe. Steal $10 from 1 million people, and it's not worth it for any one of them to file on their own. But a $10 million class action is worth it. If you aren't in a class, then the unfortunate reality is that you don't have much legal recourse. If someone cheats out out of a $1,000, the result is you don't do business with them again and their reputation may suffer. There's small claims court, but how much time, money, and opportunity cost are you going to spend on that, and then you have to collect: WHat if the other party ignores the court's judgment? More time in court, etc. If you're smart, you'll swallow your outrage and move on to something more profitable to spend your time on.

SilasX 10y ago

So, wait, if you have to assume each victim is a separate case with $400 of fees just to file, isn't that just begging bad people to commit whatever torts don't exceed $400/person?

hackuser 10y ago
> if you have to assume each victim is a separate case with $400 of fees just to file, isn't that just begging bad people to commit whatever torts don't exceed $400/person? It's much worse than that. It's not worth suing someone for even $10,000 in damages, as the article points out, due to the time and costs involved. Good lawyers bill $400+ per hour. $100,000 is a small case. Class actions are intended as a solution to the very problem you describe. Steal $10 from 1 million people, and it's not worth it for any one of them to file on their own. But a $10 million class action is worth it. If you aren't in a class, then the unfortunate reality is that you don't have much legal recourse. If someone cheats out out of a $1,000, the result is you don't do business with them again and their reputation may suffer. There's small claims court, but how much time, money, and opportunity cost are you going to spend on that, and then you have to collect: WHat if the other party ignores the court's judgment? More time in court, etc. If you're smart, you'll swallow your outrage and move on to something more profitable to spend your time on.