YOU AND THE LAW™: This post is about the consequences for those who sign up for every class action suit that comes along. Let’s say someone is seriously injured, but the injured person has a pre-existing injury or medical issues in the affected area caused by the new accident. And now the question is whether the new accident caused the current problems, or whether the problems were there all along.
Now the issue really boils down to the injured person’s credibility as a witness. If the injured person has a history of signing up for every class action suit that is advertised on television, that person will look like a “professional plaintiff” in front of a jury.
Obviously the injured person’s attorney is going to fight to keep this information from ever being presented to the jury; and the defense lawyer is going to argue to the judge that it is relevant, as it is information that is directly relevant to the injured person’s credibility.
So now we have a person who has a legitimate, serious injury that will require continued medical costs, and this person will also suffer serious wage loss and/or loss of earning capacity.
Their past history of signing up for multiple class action suits may ultimately come back to haunt them, as it is very unlikely a jury is going to believe their story about their injuries being caused by the new accident.
My advice: stay away from class action suits unless you have a legitimate claim. Don’t sign up so you can get mailbox money; it’s not worth it.
Alvin D. Hunt
Attorney-at-Law
HuntLawFirm.com
info@huntlawfirm.com
337.310.9111