CONSUMER CLASS
ACTIONS
With corporate
consolidation, the proliferation of the Internet and mass marketing
campaigns, today's consumer is required more and more to deposit
trust into the hands of big business. When a product does not live
up to its marketed characteristics, more often than not, big
business' customer service representatives turn a blind eye and a
deaf ear. Caveat emptor is the rule of the day.
In these cases, the amount in dispute is often very small –
not worth the cost and expense of pursuing a legal remedy. That is
what big business is counting on. Big business might think twice
about stealing $5,000,000 from another big corporation, but they
assume they will get away with stealing 100,000,000 nickels.
However, King &
Ferlauto has been very
successful in protecting Californian and American consumers from
big business. California has a pair of laws giving the consumer a
fighting chance against big business. California Civil Code section
1750, et seq. is referred to as the Consumers Legal Remedies Act,
or the CLRA. It declares a whole host of unfair practices to be
illegal and gives consumers wide ranging remedies for violations.
It even permits a claim to be brought as a class action. In this
way, the claim can be brought on behalf of all 100,000,000
bamboozled consumers, turning a multitude of five cent claims into
one $5,000,000. Finally, it becomes economic to pursue the claim
and the little guy finally has a fighting chance against big
business. California Business and Professions Code section 17200,
et seq. also provides the affected consumer with remedies against
big business.
King &
Ferlauto is intimately
familiar with the inner workers of these statutory remedies,
and King &
Ferlauto has employed
these statutes to protect consumers.