i’ve seen so many ads asking ordinary to call a number to claim cash due to companies liability or medicare. For example, i will see ads for class action lawsuits against chrysler and how they have faulty head rests. The ad asks for ppl to call the number if they think they qualify. are these scams? why are these ads so ubiquitous?
In: Economics
In order for a class action settlement or judgement to be valid, all members of the class need to be notified of the settlement and given an opportunity to make a claim or opt out. In some cases that’s easy to do. Imagine there is a class action settlement regarding your internet provider – your internet provider has the names, addresses, and phone numbers of anyone affected by the settlement so the attorneys involved can directly contact everyone.
But not all cases are as easy as that. Imagine a class action lawsuit that involves candy sold in stores nationwide – the attorneys involved know how much candy was sold but have no idea who bought it. When class members can’t be contacted directly they are allowed to be “contacted” by publication, which means that information about the settlement is distributed by placing ads where class members are likely to see them. The easiest way to do that is to run ads on major TV networks.
Neither directly contacting the class members nor publishing ads in nationwide media guarantees that all class members will actually receive notice of the lawsuit, but that’s not required. All that matters is that the attorneys involved made a good faith effort and that its likely that most class members will be notified.
So to sum up why you see those ads: because the attorneys involved are legally required to run them for settlement/judgement to be valid.
Latest Answers