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Thursday, May 05, 2005

Gee Thanks Dude!!

[Hey welcome fellow Wizbang readers -- enjoy the visit]

Even though I am a lawyer, I have more often than not questioned the propriety of class-action law suits in which members of the "victim" plaintiff class may receive pennies (literally) while the plaintiff-class attorneys receive millions for themselves. As one who did a fair amount of investing during the 1980's and 1990's, I have received my share of "Notice of Class Action" announcements, explaining that if I met certain characteristics of the "class," I could register as a class member at no out-of-pocket cost to me. For pure amusement, in one instance only (one in which I had actually lost a considerable sum of money), I entered the class and several years later, I received a check for $34.17 (for my $3,000 loss), while the class attorneys collected some $17.5 million.

Outrageous, right?

Well apparently the plaintiff class lawyers in Texas are running low on victims.

As reported a long while ago at Overlawyered:

"Houston attorney David George has filed intended class-action lawsuits on behalf of local resident Paul Brian Meekey against three strip clubs, claiming the clubs violated Texas law by adding a $5 credit card surcharge to the $20 price of a lap dance. The suit demands a refund of all such charges paid over the past four years, plus attorney's fees. According to attorney George, state law flatly forbids merchants from imposing surcharges on credit card transactions, even, presumably, in cases where those transactions are costly for merchants to provide because of a high later dispute rate. "Another lawyer tried filing similar cases in 1999 but abandoned them, in part out of fear that clients would only be angry when they received notice at home about refunds."

After a lower court dismissed the lawsuit on procedural grounds, we learn (via The Slithery D) that the Texas Court of Appeals has ruled that the suit may proceed, and now the enterprising plaintiff class lawyers have some nettlesome work ahead of them:

"That could mean notifying a lot of other men who used credit cards to pay for lap dances in recent years.

"And that might not go over very well in some households.

"'They are going to want the (strip) clubs' credit card companies to give them the names of all the different people who have charged dances there,' said Albert Van Huff, attorney for several of the clubs."

A few questions come to mind:

And finally...
Posted by: Wave Maker / 10:46 AM/ |


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