A Leading Class Action Practitioner Speaks Out
We just received a letter from Robert Green who is a leading, class action lawyer of national significance. His email was in reference to the last post on this blog about why students have decided to stay away from the Belford lawsuit. Being a legal professional and a class action practitioner of the highest order, he has a thing or two to say about how Googasian has proceeded with his class actions so far specifically the last class action that came to conclusion under Googasian’s lead; namely the Court Reporting School case. I think his letter is significant enough to be reproduced as is. I am going to let him take over now;
“Hi, you might not know me, but then you may. I won’t shy away from admitting that over the last three decades of legal practice, specifically in the area of class action lawsuits, I’ve built something of a name for myself. In some circles, they call me the Wichita Cheetah; never mind that I left my place of birth for greener pastures in the first decade of life and have never been back, others have been heard referring to me as The Shark. But it’s ok; I take it all as a compliment, a testament to the competitive spirit that drives me and to my expertise as a legal professional.
But enough about me. I wanted to write to you about this group of jokers the Googasian P.C. ever since you started this blog. I was approached by one of his former clients through an acquaintance of mine about three years ago. Googasian had filed a case against the Court Reporting School back then; this was his first foray into class action. Yup that’s true, contrary to what you’ve been specifying on this blog, Googasian isn’t really a class action veteran. His expertise is in other areas of law, class actions are uncharted territory for him, for the most part.
So, this friend of a friend, who was a former student of the Court Reporting School had been approached by Googasian to join his class action lawsuit. Since I am the go to guy for class actions, he was referred to me for advice. I took a looksy at the case and immediately knew that this was a lost cause. The attorney (Googasian) had little to no direct class action experience and although the runaway school had promised their pupils jobs, they could only be held liable for the fee, at most. In class action world this was one for the shitters. No experience class action lawyer would have touched this, but Googasian was not (and is not) an experience class action lawyer.
See, class action is dirty business. You get your hands in the muck and most times you come out with nothing but dry dirt. Most class action lawsuit never go to trial. If they even take off, the chances of success are minimal. Minimal. Juries can usually distinguish between respect for law, and greed for money and that’s where the cases usually fall apart. So, with the cards stacked against “the people” so monumentally, what is it that even makes the practice of class action lawsuit a viable career? I’ll give you three words.
“Damage to reputation”.
That’s it. Nothing else balances the risk for the plaintiff. You can put a value on the productive capacity of an individual and the only reasonable number you can come off with would be finite. With less than 0.1 percent chances of success, the only thing that can make class actions profitable for plaintiffs is damage to an intangible property. You can put any value on your reputation now can’t you? You ask for a ridiculous hundred million, and with a 0.1 percent chance of success, your potential benefit comes out to be about $ 10,000. That is worth it. Less than ten thousand dollar is not worth the hassle, and the risk that getting involved in a class action exposes one to.
Now, here’s the thing, class action lawyers do not expose their clients to this risk.
Noobs like Googasian do. Those who have been practicing class action for any given length of time do not. They know it’s pointless, they know it will kill their reputation, and their career. People like Googasian do not care.
I told the friend of my friend to stay away from the case. The reason Googasian was going into this was to pick up a few bucks on virtually zero investment. There was no way the plaintiffs could get anything meaningful out of this.
He didn’t take my advice and joined the case because Googasian told him there was no risk for him and it would require virtually nothing from him.
Next time a class action lawyer tells you that, tell him to get lost. No class action lawyer worth his salts would tell a client that the case involves no risk for them. Every time you sign a piece of paper you take up new risks; all lawyers know that.
The Court Reporting lawsuit carried the following risks for plaintiffs.
1) If they had been legitimately bereaved they lost their right to pursue legal action through other avenues.
2) They could be countersued for libel or a number of other reasons. It happens all the time.
Also, the time and effort involved in completing the paperwork is by no means small.
So my acquaintance went ahead and joined the case. Googasian went on to win the case as the court reporting school was clearly in the wrong. Googasian made an estimated more than 2 million dollars. What did my friend get? Well this.
http://www.courtreportingfaqs.com/
He basically spent more than one week accumulated man hours completing the paper work and then was even robbed off the complete fee that he had paid. Googasian rigged it to make sure that his fee was paid in full, whether the plaintiffs got their money back or not.
When he later tried to file another lawsuit claiming to get at least his full fee back, he was told he can’t do it, because he had already been dealt with as part of the “class” by the legal system. He’d lost his right to the claim.
He filed an objection to the ruling but his objection was rejected by the court.
In the end the students (not all of them) only got about one third of their fee back. About $10,000.
This is why I think the Belford case is even more ridiculous. I think the Belford fee was something of the order of a couple of hundred dollars. Even if the students get ALL of it back (highly unlikely) it’s still not worth the trouble.
There are of course other loopholes in the Belford case which you’ve pointed out on your blog from time to time and which I quite agree with. If Belford is a foreign entity and if it is clearly specified in their terms of service, this lawsuit is a dud. Googasian’s incompetence has also been proven in the Computer Training institute case where also, the plaintiffs are yet to get a dime.
I am writing this email, because having a reputation as one of the legal granddaddies in the area of class actions, I feel Googasian is a novice infringing on some sacred territory unwashed. Class action has got much bad reputation over the last few years because of opportunists like Googasian. I want to make sure that that has been registered and I want to warn people to stay away from charlatans like him. Thanks for your blog.”