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Wall Street JournalJune 30, 2000Letters to the Editor In only the latest example of class-action abuse, the Journal recently reported on American Airlines' settlement agreement to pay $25 million to plaintiffs' attorneys in the form of a coupon worth $25 toward future air travel for most class members.
The reason class-action settlements so often discriminate against the plaintiffs, and in favor of the plaintiffs' lawyers, is that most class members don't even know someone is claiming to represent them. (This was most pithily expressed by class-action specialist Bill Lerach, who famously said: "I have the greatest practice of law in the world. I have no clients.") Even worse for the forgotten "clients" in class actions is that a settlement about which they weren't actually consulted can cut off their rights to recovery. Every person should have the right to decide whether to be a party in a lawsuit. No lawyer should be able to claim to represent someone without first being authorized by that person to do so. To vindicate these fundamental principles, I am introducing "The Right to Choose Your Lawyer Act," to protect the right of all Americans to be free from lawsuits filed on their behalf without their knowledge or consent. Congressional enactment of this legislation will go far toward ending the steady stream of class-action horror stories.
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