In prior articles I suggested that the explosive growth of consumer class actions in recent years amounted to a “class actionization” of America. Some lawyers skillfully convert ordinary breach of warranty or Lemon Law or consumer fraud act claims into putative class actions of mega-proportions by naming one or two plaintiffs as “representatives” of a mass of faceless, nameless purchasers of the same or similar products. By a twist of the pleader’s pen—”Presto Remco!”—the laments of the named plaintiffs in one or two scenarios morph into becoming the putative complaints of perhaps hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of other consumers who may have experienced no malfunctions or harms and who have absolutely no interest in being part of the lawsuit now carried in their name.

Indeed, quite another plausible assumption can be made. Perhaps more likely, the class of unidentified mass consumers wants nothing to do with lawyers they don’t know, with whom they never spoke or whom they never retained. Indeed, they likely don’t want the so-called named “class representatives” speaking for them in a lawsuit that impugns the reputation (or value) of products they own or enjoy. Nor, if informed, would most absent class members favor such behemoth lawsuits. After all, they could, eventually, drive up product prices or divert company funds that otherwise could be used for research and development of improved products. Additionally, such suits may hurt a company’s shareholders, many of whom are ordinary individuals and pensioners, or they might adversely impact employees who depend upon the defendant firm’s success in the marketplace.

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