Illegal Class Action lawsuits?

draft_board_volunteer asked:


I’m very concerned that during the past couple of years, I’ve received a lot of letters stating that I’m a “member of class” in some Class Action lawsuit. But when I read the letters, it is clear I am NOT a member of that class.

For example, one law firm sought to recover alleged overcharges by several airlines. The problem is that I hadn’t flown on any of those airlines within the period they stated. Therefore, I didn’t qualify as a Member of Class, and it was clear this law firm was using my name to extort money from the airlines ! (If you read the terms of the proposed settlement carefully, you’ll see that the law firm gets 40% of the settlement in cash. The class members receive worthless “discount coupons” for future travel.)

It is very difficult to opt-out of these Class Actions. In the example above, they required that I would have to send them a notarized letter stating why I should NOT be included. That is quite troublesome, considering that I should have never been listed as a member originally.

Short of going through that trouble (to send a notarized letter), is there any way to prevent law firms from using my name without permission ? Who can I report this illegal activity to ?

I can assure you that I didn’t make this up. I wish I would have kept the brochure, so I could quote the exact wording to you.

As far as I know, I was included in the class, because they sent me a worthless discount coupon later. I didn’t actively participate in the process at all !

I remember several years ago, I would have to join the class action by sending documentation (receipts, boarding passes, etc.). I don’t know why this is no longer necessary.

Maybe you haven’t seen this problem. (Could it depend on which state the action was filed in ?) But I swear somebody is making money off my name without permission. That is what I dislike about the process.

NATHANIEL