Gomez Turns Down Complete Relief In Class Action Suite
This is the question raised by both sides since moving to litigation would need to involve hundreds or thousands of plaintiffs and involve possibly millions of dollars in fees, fines, and damages. Gomez turned down the initial $1,503 offered to him, which they maintain is “complete relief”, but could be construed as being to save their own finances and prevent the case from heading into lengthy and expensive litigation.
In a report by Ronald Mann, the little attention and massive deflection of questioners lends merit to the likelihood that Campbell-Ewalds Co. is likely to eke out some sort of victory. While reporter Lyle Dennison believes that the court’s refusal to become involved in a bitter and partisan feud is not a surprise, in part because the other plaintiff groups against the prosecutor were able to stop investigations that had been ongoing for over five years.
The first question raised has to do with a mooting of all the claims by Gomez. In a previous case an offer which well overcompensates the actual settlement amount cannot moot the case as a whole. Thus, even if Gomez refuses the $1,500 settlement offer, he can continue his pursuit of an appeal against the defendant thus challenging the denial of a class action suit.
The second question raised involves pursuing a case under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which protects many consumers against many telephone marketing schemes. Their statute allows for a base maximum settlement of $500, but does not allow for reimbursement of any attorney fees. Campbell-Ewald offered three times that amount to Gomez.
So far four of the justices are unconvinced by Campbell-Ewards arguments against Gomez. First Gomez must convince them that the offer does not moot his case as a hole. Second, he must convince the justices that the offer is an effort to pick off class representatives individually, in an effort to reduce the costs of their class action case as a whole.
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