Class action lawsuit - how does one get the ball rolling?

sir82

Unless you've been living under a rock you know that a court in California has found the WTS guilty of negligence in covering over child abuse, and the WTS has ben ordered to pay $20 million + to the victim.

Also, unless you've been living under a rock, you know that there are thousands, probably 10's of thousands, of similar victims of WTS coverups regarding sexual abuse still out there.

Now that the precedent has been set - now that the WTS was not able to settle out of court, and has been found guilty - now that this is international news, and literally millions of people are aware of it - it seems that now may be the time to strike even more deeply.

I am not an attorney, but there are a few who post on the board, and others who have a deeper understanding of legal matters.

What would it take to begin a class action lawsuit against the WTS? How exactly does the process start? Does it matter which state it starts in? To which court would it be brought?

Does a victim or a group of victims approach an attorney with such a request? Do they then "advertise" to see if others would want to join the class action suit? What kind of timeline is followed?

Or maybe it is too early to start - maybe it is better to wait to see how the WTS appeal works out?

Yan Bibiyan

Sir, I am no lawyer either, but it seems to me that individual law suits can do more damage than a class action.

In class action, the entire damage can be assesed BEFOREHAND and the WT would know how to defend it. The number of defendants will be known, the damages can be planned for and once the main fiasco fizzles out it will be yesterday's news...

In the case of individual lawsuits popping up left and right with unpredictable damage awards and with no end in sight, the WT will be always at a disatvantage of not knowing what follows. The precedent is already set and with every new case will grow stronger.

How many more $10-20 MM payouts?

When will this end?

It will be a PR nightmare with no end in sight....

sir82

But a class action lawsuit doesn't preclude other individuals, who opt out of the "class", from suing individually.

I just have visions of a 300, 400, 500 million dollar class action lawsuit brought against the WTS by a few hundred victims....you want a PR nightmare, I think that qualifies.

Yan Bibiyan

I don't know. What you say makes sense too...

Yet, a 500 million settlement for even 500 victims vs. 10-20 mil individual settlements for the same 500 victims empties the coffers at a much greater rate AND the borg has to fight them on several hundred different fronts simultaneously....In class action they will throw all lawyer firepower in the same battle

You are rigth that in terms of a PR nightmare the class action gives more bang for the buck, I just think that it does not have the same financial impact.

But what do I know, as I said I ain't no loor, nor do I play one on TV

DT

It's my unprofessional opinion that a class action lawsuit is a strong possibility. I'm sure there are lawyers thinking about this. They might want to wait until there are more successful individual cases or this case gets upheld on appeal. When one or more lawyers feels the time is right for a class action, I'm sure we will hear about it.

In the meantime, there are other cases pending. It may also be a good time for some to settle with the Society for much more money than they could have expected before.

sir82

When one or more lawyers feels the time is right for a class action, I'm sure we will hear about it.

That's part of my (ignorant) question...

So an attorney can start a class action suit? What does he then do, go out soliciting for clients?

I would have thought the case is started at the request of victims.

It sounds kind of sleazy to think there are law firms out there looking for ways to start lawsuits "out of the blue" before anyone requests it.

shamus100

Patience, kitten.... :)

Can you imagine the horror when elders are named in lawsuits now? I wonder if they will pee their K-Mart pants when they get served. They should.

ShirleyW

Even if a class action suit did go thru the payout to all the millions of ExJWs who suffered would be about 63 cents per person.

JRK

I believe individual lawsuits are the way to go.

Do you realize that 10,000 lawsuits won like in the Conti case (a realistic number), would mean the WTS would owe almost half a TRILLION in damages to victims?

Media exposure be damned, Money is the only thing that will kill the Borg!

JK

shopaholic

It's not so much about the money each person will get but the exposure of the WBTS. The WBTS would still have to dig deep to cover a class action lawsuit. More people are likely to participate in a class action suit than to go it alone. Plus, a class action lawsuit would get lots of air time and doesn't appear as isolated cases.

Class action lawsuit - how does one get the ball rolling?

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