Today, thousands of people have been involved in some type of class action lawsuit in some way or another. It's no wonder, since this type of litigation is commonly used for almost every kind of dispute. That is why class action settlements have exceeded $10 billion to date. Yet, in reality, evidence shows that more than half of those found deserving of a payout from a class action suit have failed to file a claim. Let us see why this may be the case.
Possible Reasons
When a class action suit is filed, the plaintiff could be hundreds if not thousands of people. They could have been all employees who worked for the same company over an extended period of time, or possibly they could be all the people who lived in a certain community at a certain point in time. Whatever the case may be, the biggest problem with these types of lawsuits is getting all the people involved to come together to participate in this type of lawsuit. Oftentimes finding all the parties who may have possibly been involved is a difficult task to say the least. In many cases, the basis for the suit may have happened many years previously and the people who have been affected may have moved to another place.
Notification can be near impossible for many. Legal notification of the claim is often placed in newspapers or listed on some website that many of those involved may not know about. In the end, few people may realize that they are eligible for certain class action settlements that may already have been resolved.
Unclaimed Property Search
Once a claim has been settled, if the participant has yet to be located, the monies, stock holdings, or other form of payout are placed in the unclaimed property holdings. Because these class actions are filed in federal court, they won't appear in the state level unclaimed property searches. So, if you've been involved in any type of class action lawsuit, you'll need to file a claim to receive your share of the payout. Because there is a payout for class action settlements, it is important that you take action as soon as possible to determine your eligibility.
The Database
Finding out about pending class action lawsuits is extremely important. Visiting websites, like www.consumer-action.org, is one way to find out if you are eligible to participate in any type of ongoing litigation. The database contains a listing of pending class actions so that consumers can find out about them, decide on participating in a pending action, and file a claim before the deadline.
Through the database, you can search for pending actions in a variety of ways and determine if any of them have already reached class action settlements that can be paid out. It is not a complete listing of any class action suits so it would be advisable to search several similar sites to make sure that you've covered all your bases. Once you've found the cases that you could or should be a party to, then you'll have to file a claim for your share of the settlement monies to be paid out.