Mr. Kingsley's April 9 article "Titanic: one hundred years later, what has changed?" cleverly ties historic events around the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the
Titanic to his perspective on class action litigation. Al¬though I was not around 100 years ago, in many instanc¬es today, class action lawsuits are not brought for victims of "governmental power" and "pernicious" corporations that "undermine our freedom." I also cannot agree with the author's premise that "class action lawsuits are the lifeboats society can depend on" to defend itself from "greedy corporations." These lawsuits often play a far less productive role in our society.
The class warfare tone of the article does not advance the dialogue about when such cases are proper and use¬ful. Unfortunately, it is not the exceptional case where attorneys solicit clients in "gotcha" cases with no real victims, refile in other jurisdictions if they do not like the results obtained in their chosen venue (s) and defer discussions to resolve a case until they have sufficiently bulked up their lodestars.
Read the full article here, "Unsinking Mr. Kingley's Titanic Subscription" (subscription).