I’m a renter in Vermont and I was displaced from my last apartment because when the new landlords bought it, they kicked me out without even giving me a chance to interview to stay. Turns out they’re out-of-staters who bought the building to put my apartment on AirBnb, and leaving all the other tenants in the building.
I know there’s class action lawsuits about this, where lots of people are involved because they’ve been in this situation. How can I do one? Am I eligible?
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Get in touch with the firm representing the alleged victims.
A class action is similar to a regular lawsuit, except instead of 1 person suing, it’s everyone who fell victim to the act. In your case, it is tenants who were wrongfully evicted by that company.
Class action lawsuits are a way of grouping a whole bunch of similar lawsuit into one big case. All of the individual plaintiffs get grouped together, with a single representative case being tried. All of the members of the class are tied to the same verdict.
If you think you are eligible to be part of a class action law suit, you need to find the law firm representing the class and talk to them. They will be able to tell you if you are eligible for participation in their suit. Keep in mind that as a member of the class, you won’t have any say in how the lawsuit is run, or how the damages will be split up if you win. Often in big class action lawsuits, the settlements for each individual is pretty small, and a lot of the money won ends up going to the law firm. Once you sign up to be part of the class action, you give up your ability to have your own separate court case.
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