Internet Fostering Participation in Class-Action Lawsuits, New York Times Reports
The New York Times on Sunday reported on the increasing number of people who are joining class-action lawsuits after searching for information on the Internet, a trend that "solves a longstanding problem for most class-action litigators": locating potential plaintiffs. A growing number of Web sites, including Classactionsonline.com, ClassactionAmerica.com and the American Bar Association's Findlaw.com, along with individual law firms' sites, allow consumers to perform online searches and identify "just about any class-action suit" currently pending. For example, ClassactionAmerica.com supplies listings of thousands of lawsuits and product recalls and allows users to complete online evaluations designed to identify class-action plaintiffs. Prior to the advent of such Web sites, lawyers had to assemble plaintiffs through mass mailings and broadcast and print advertisements, the Times reports. Medical class-action suits proved particularly difficult because most medical records are private (Temple-Raston, New York Times, 7/28). For more iHealth & Technology stories, visit iHealthBeat.org, a new Web publication sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation.
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