When class action becomes shakedown, lawyers win. (Commentary).As state lawmakers continue to wrangle and posture over the embarrassments caused by fast-buck lawyers who have been exploiting the state's Business and Professions Cede, keep in mind that it's still possible to shake down businesses the old-fashioned way, too, through garden-variety class action suits. The latest example comes from a lessee of a Volkswagen Jetta The Volkswagen Jetta is an automobile produced by German automaker Volkswagen since 1980. Depending on the model year and location, it is sometimes known as the Atlantic, Fox, Vento, Bora, or Sagitar. . This person was notified that he was one of a class of 25,504 California consumers on whose paperwork VW Credit allegedly "failed to state the number of lease payments in one of the boxes at the top of the lease form" in violation of the California Vehicle Leasing Vehicle leasing refers to leasing the use of a motor vehicle for a fixed or indefinite period of time. It is commonly offered by dealers as an alternative to vehicle purchase. Act and the federal Consumer Leasing Act. VW committed this alleged infraction Violation or infringement; breach of a statute, contract, or obligation. The term infraction is frequently used in reference to the violation of a particular statute for which the penalty is minor, such as a parking infraction. INFRACTION. during a 19-month stretch in 1998 and 1999. VW denied the allegations, asserted that elsewhere in the lease the number of payments was "adequately disclosed" and argued that any failure to mark the required box was unintentional. VW, of course, decided to avoid prolonged litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. by agreeing to settle with the plaintiffs for $250,000. Alas, our lessee learned that he and other plaintiffs' share of the settlement will be nada. The plantiffs' lawyers agreed with VW that it didn't make sense to incur the costs of distributing a token payment to each of 25,000 people. Instead, the money will go to five "worthy organizations... that promote the education of consumers, or otherwise further the purposes underlying this suit." The "worthy" recipients of $50,000 each will be Bay Area Legal Aid, Santa Clara University's Street Law Program and its East San Jose East San Jose (or the East Side; less commonly the East Valley) is the name for several neighborhoods east of downtown San Jose, California. These neighborhoods include:
Plaintiffs have until July 22 to object to the settlement terms; I hope a few from Southern California at least go on record to protest this skewing of proceeds toward the Bay Area. VW also agreed to one other payment -- $175,000 -- to the plaintiffs' law firm. Rick Reiff is executive editor of the Orange County Business Journal  An editor has expressed concern that this article or section is .Please help improve the article by adding information and sources on neglected viewpoints, or by summarizing and . |
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