This Class Action Opt Out Process Should be Illegal

[SANZC02]

My layman’s take on this. Better for Rivian if people do not opt out as the disposition settles it for everyone even if that disposition is tossing it out. Only people that opt out have any additional recourse which could cost Rivian more money swatting all of those little flies.

I personally read through the S1, I own my decision to invest. It is an IPO, those are often the worst investments, especially mid terms, buy and sell early during the frenzy or expect to hold for a long time. Anyone who bought at IPO could have made money until Jan 9th 2022 if they were paying attention.

Hopefully this just goes away.

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[lefkonj]

Everything should be opt in, would make our lives so much better.

 

[Ohm Boy]

The whole class action process is ridiculous. Nobody wins except the law firms. I'd love to see significant reform, including a requirement that 85% or 90% of the settlement gets paid to the class members. That of course will never happen.

How can you possibly say only the law firms benefit? Why, the Apple Siri class action will send a whole, whopping $25 my way. That’s 25 trips to the dollar store!! SCORE!!!!

And I won’t have any of the problems the law firm will have figuring out where to put all that grimy money they’ll receive. Can you imagine how much valuable space that would occupy? Where in God’s name would I be able to put the set of plastic broccoli napkin rings when guests aren’t over for dinner?

</sarcasm>

 

[R1TandMe]

Ambulance chasers

 

[AlanP]

The whole class action process is ridiculous. Nobody wins except the law firms. I'd love to see significant reform, including a requirement that 85% or 90% of the settlement gets paid to the class members. That of course will never happen.

I’ve been a winner on multiple occasions. $1.14 in an Apple lawsuit and $2.87 against So Cal Gas.

 

[Zoidz]

I’ve been a winner on multiple occasions. $1.14 in an Apple lawsuit and $2.87 against So Cal Gas.

If you have been a class action lead attorney working the lawsuit, you could probably add about 6 or 7 zeros behind that.

 

[AlanP]

If you have been a class action lead attorney working the lawsuit, you could probably add about 6 or 7 zeros behind that.

A wins a win! I just got notified I’m a member in a case against Earthlink (remember them, circa
2014) and when I won against Belkin I got a 30% off coupon on my next purchase.

 

[Jeep Addict]

The class action lawsuit..

The vitriol over these is so intense, and misplaced in my opinion. A major function for a class action suit is to deter corporate entities from capricious or otherwise abusive practices toward individuals. There are many different types of class actions, this one is a typical IPO investor action, " The company somehow made material assertions that were false or misleading and caused me to invest a price that wasn't fair if they had accurately stated the facts"

An individual, whether a consumer or investor, is rarely positioned well, financially, to bring a lawsuit to recover a relatively small amount from a corporate entity. The amounts in question are relatively small, relatively varies, from pennies to hundreds of dollars, but the cost of complex litigation is never inexpensive. A tactic employed is to prolong lawsuits to make the costs to plaintiffs so high as to prevent anyone from filing. My own modest position with Rivian stock doesn't justify me filing, but then again I didn't get to buy in at the IPO, I bought the "dip". ?

If a company decides to "overcharge" $1.99 on every transaction it's not worth bringing a lawsuit to recover that sum, even if a few decide to take legal action, the bad behavior still provides economic benefit to bad actors because the revenue far outweighs the costs.

The process of certifying a class action suit is not easy, but in essence a plaintiff seeks out a lawyer, the lawyer tells the plaintiff the cost to carry a lawsuit, but should also tell the plaintiff that if there are others who experienced the same thing it's possible they can "band together" as a group (the class) to attempt to recover their loss from the company. The lawyer has to find other potential plaintiff and verify there is actually merit to the claim.

The lawyer makes no money on the lawsuit unless they recover for the plaintiffs. This "contingency" payment is the same arrangement prevalent in personal injury area. The contingency allows plaintiffs to get legal representation without paying a lawyer to represent them, but the lawyer will earn a percentage of the recovery.

The reason payouts for a class action lawsuit that recovers for plaintiff is usually small is because the harms to the plaintiffs is usually small. However the amount the company is liable for is very large, in aggregate, and this economic penalty acts as a deterrent to corporate bad behavior.

You certainly can opt out and seek to recover on an individual basis, or not.

Are there lawyers who actively work to find class action lawsuits? Just like there are lawyers who make their practice personal injury, divorce, criminal defense, estate planning etc., yes, is every case a shining example or David vs. Goliath story? No. If the case has no merit, it won't get certified, and if it's weak the plaintiff's won't win.

The fact is these are very effective as a deterrent, so much so there has been an amazing amount of one-sided contracts written to get consumers to forfeit their ability to band together, including Rivian's own class action waiver

Almost everyone hates lawyers, until they need one; even lawyers. You can believe that insurance companies and corporations are going to treat you fairly, but if they don't what are you going to do if you can't afford to force them to do the right thing?

No, I'm not a lawyer, but I did drive by a Tim Misny billboard this morning.

 

[ElGuano]

You should have to opt in not opt out. I don't know how auto opt-in is allowed.

If you're saying that because you don't agree with the basis underlying class action itself (or feel that class actions shouldn't exist), then that's fine. But if you're thinking this would make class actions more equitable and effective, that would likely not be the case. Requiring express opt-in to class action would effectively destroy it as a viable litigation path.

 

[R1Thor]

FTFY:
Meh. If there is a settlement and you receive a check, just donate it to charity buy more stock with it! Drive well.

If you have been a class action lead attorney working the lawsuit, you could probably add about 6 or 7 zeros behind that.

Ok, $1.14000000 and $2.870000000. Better?? (I know what you meant, I was just being ..smart!)

 

[a76marine]

If you do opt out, doesn't the case still proceed for the same amount and the rest of the class litigants just get a few pennies more each?

 

[Rade]

IMHO - That post card would just go into the circular file, along with the next dozen or so you will receive as they fish for plaintiffs proceed.

FWIW - When the FIRST Equfax breech occurred, I signed up for the Class Action lawsuit against them. That was what? 2006... 08? And I recall having to provide supporting documentation was onerous. >I JUST GOT MY $28 settlement< two weeks ago. It was supposed to cover my out-of-pocket expenses for credit protection that I paid for. It came as a pre-paid Mastercard.

 

[SoCal Rob]

The class action lawsuit..

The vitriol over these is so intense, and misplaced in my opinion. A major function for a class action suit is to deter corporate entities from capricious or otherwise abusive practices toward individuals. There are many different types of class actions, this one is a typical IPO investor action, " The company somehow made material assertions that were false or misleading and caused me to invest a price that wasn't fair if they had accurately stated the facts"

An individual, whether a consumer or investor, is rarely positioned well, financially, to bring a lawsuit to recover a relatively small amount from a corporate entity. The amounts in question are relatively small, relatively varies, from pennies to hundreds of dollars, but the cost of complex litigation is never inexpensive. A tactic employed is to prolong lawsuits to make the costs to plaintiffs so high as to prevent anyone from filing. My own modest position with Rivian stock doesn't justify me filing, but then again I didn't get to buy in at the IPO, I bought the "dip". ?

If a company decides to "overcharge" $1.99 on every transaction it's not worth bringing a lawsuit to recover that sum, even if a few decide to take legal action, the bad behavior still provides economic benefit to bad actors because the revenue far outweighs the costs.

The process of certifying a class action suit is not easy, but in essence a plaintiff seeks out a lawyer, the lawyer tells the plaintiff the cost to carry a lawsuit, but should also tell the plaintiff that if there are others who experienced the same thing it's possible they can "band together" as a group (the class) to attempt to recover their loss from the company. The lawyer has to find other potential plaintiff and verify there is actually merit to the claim.

The lawyer makes no money on the lawsuit unless they recover for the plaintiffs. This "contingency" payment is the same arrangement prevalent in personal injury area. The contingency allows plaintiffs to get legal representation without paying a lawyer to represent them, but the lawyer will earn a percentage of the recovery.

The reason payouts for a class action lawsuit that recovers for plaintiff is usually small is because the harms to the plaintiffs is usually small. However the amount the company is liable for is very large, in aggregate, and this economic penalty acts as a deterrent to corporate bad behavior.

You certainly can opt out and seek to recover on an individual basis, or not.

Are there lawyers who actively work to find class action lawsuits? Just like there are lawyers who make their practice personal injury, divorce, criminal defense, estate planning etc., yes, is every case a shining example or David vs. Goliath story? No. If the case has no merit, it won't get certified, and if it's weak the plaintiff's won't win.

The fact is these are very effective as a deterrent, so much so there has been an amazing amount of one-sided contracts written to get consumers to forfeit their ability to band together, including Rivian's own class action waiver

Almost everyone hates lawyers, until they need one; even lawyers. You can believe that insurance companies and corporations are going to treat you fairly, but if they don't what are you going to do if you can't afford to force them to do the right thing?

No, I'm not a lawyer, but I did drive by a Tim Misny billboard this morning.

I don’t have a problem with class action lawsuits. I certainly DO have a problem with the onerous requirements to opt out of this one. If it had come in via email I would’ve assumed it was a phishing attempt. Instead, this law firm added another task to my to-do list and it pisses me off.

If I had an admin task added to my personal life because of something I did or something I wanted then that’s my fault. I invited that extra work into my life. This is something which was imposed on me.

If they just wanted me to send an email to them with a subject line of “OPT OUT Case No. 2:22-cv-01524-JLS-E” and the message body containing the name and address on the postcard then I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Instead, I have to include a paragraph of text in tiny print on the postcard (not everyone knows how to scrape the text from a photo so it’s going to be more annoying for other people) PLUS my identifying info PLUS dig up records to provide transaction info. That is taking more of my time than should be asked of me.

To me, it would be along the lines of walking around in public and a random stranger approaches me and takes my picture. They tell me if I don’t want my picture used in their stock photo library service (so they can make money off of me) that I can’t merely refuse. Instead I have to recite a paragraph they handed to me EXACTLY, provide my personal information, and look up some financial records to opt out. Does anyone consider that acceptable?

 

[Greg Chick]

Musk probably seeded this. Anti EV propaganda, the ICE industry, or like others said simple greed and lawless lawyers.
I do not feel or think Rivian has corporate scams in the stock market. I say, buy wise, sell wise, live wise.

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