Companies Pay Out Millions in Class-Action Settlements

• Author: Jacob Greene
• Posted: 2024-07-20

In the United States, you cannot get through a single day without there being a class action suit in the works somewhere. Generally speaking, it's some large company or corporation being sued for ripping people off or harming them in some way. Now that it's December and the height of the holiday season, a lot of classes out there are settling in hopes of having some money for the holidays. Five notable settlements came to light earlier this week, featuring five companies you may not have even known were being sued. In total, around $17 million will be paid out. This is a drop in the bucket compared to what these companies make, but for members of the class, that money makes a world of difference, which is why there are so many settlements of this nature.

The first on the list is American Airlines. They were sued with the accusation that they were charging too much for baggage fees for some passengers. Instead of going through court to see if they could win, American Airlines did what most companies do and settled. They settled for $7.5 million.

Uber was the next to settle. They were sued with the claim that Uber was discriminating against some passengers, by taking much longer to pick up disabled passengers, presumably because drivers did not feel like going through the hassle. They recently settled for only $2.2 million, though it was a very small class.

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble have also settled a class action recently. The claim here was that it sold products with ingredients that were labeled as a carcinogen. Rather than going through the lengthy civil proceedings, which could have very well led to criminal proceedings, P&G settled for an estimated $8 million. The class here can keep growing, depending on how many purchased the products.

All-Clad, a cookware company, settled for $4 million earlier this week. The claim was that products labeled as dishwasher safe were in fact not safe for the dishwasher, and the products did not hold up to this method of washing. Customers who can provide receipts for their purchase can get in on the class.

Lastly, ConAgra also settled. They make the Wesson Oil product that is billed as natural. The issue was that Wesson's products were not at all natural. Their vegetable, canola, corn and blended oils were all unnatural, according to a claim, and ConAgra is paying out $3 million in a settlement.
 

The Law Favors Money

Unfortunately for a lot of victims who are part of these classes, they will never get the due compensation they deserve. Say, for instance, a company tacitly admits to wrongdoing and pays out a $10 million settlement. After the lawyers and taxes get done with it, that's less than $5 million, and there could be hundreds of people in the class. So, all members of the class get a relatively small check, and the company in question gets to keep doing business like they've always done. This is just something in America that's been part of the civil system for generations now. Apple and Amazon were recently embroiled in a class action, and they just threw a small stack of money out to make it go away.

One can see why a large company or corporation would want these sorts of cases to just disappear, and so one can understand why they settle. Some of these companies are accused of some seriously criminal activities, yet they're only being held accountable in civil court. This means if they pay off a settlement, the charges go away (double jeopardy applies) and they won't end up in criminal court. However, if they went through civil court and were found guilty, that could open up the door for the possibility of further charges. So it is certainly in a company's best interests to settle; it's just usually not in the best interests of a customer who was wronged to receive such a small settlement.

Of course, on the flip side of that coin, a lot of class action lawsuits filed against corporations are baseless and are pure money grabs, much like the lawsuit accusing mascots of Sesame Place of ignoring small African-American children. Video arose of just the opposite happening, and deceptive editing being used to try to file a sham lawsuit against a corporation for profit. So the door does swing both ways.

The bottom line is that America is set up to protect the money, and it always has been.