By Dorothy O'Donnell
Special to The Daily Transcript

In 1996, some 6 million dieters were clamoring for the popular weight-loss aid Fen-phen. Though not approved by the FDA, more than 18 million prescriptions for fen-phen -- a combination of the drug fenfluramene or dexfenfluramine taken with phentermine -- were written that year alone.

But by 1997, mounting evidence linking the diet-drug cocktail to serious heart and lung problems led the FDA to ban it.

Thousands of lawsuits were subsequently filed by fen-phen users. In 1999, some 200,000 fen-phen users suffering from heart valve disease were awarded a $3.75 billion settlement by the federal court in a nationwide class action lawsuit against drug manufacturer Wyeth (NYSE: WYE). Many other fen-phen users opted out of the settlement to pursue individual lawsuits.

A class action lawsuit is one in which an individual or entity files suit on behalf of a larger group of people -- a class -- who have suffered similar harm. Class action lawsuits are targeted at companies that violate state consumer, health, civil rights, securities and environmental protection laws.

To file a class action lawsuit, plaintiffs must first prove to the court that they share enough common issues to warrant their suit being certified as a class action. Once a lawsuit is certified, the court appoints a lead plaintiff to represent the interests of all class members.

"Class action lawsuits enable individuals to go against big corporations," said Gayle Blatt, partner at Casey Gerry Schenk Francavilla Blatt & Penfield LLP, a local law firm experienced in litigating class action lawsuits and helping class members receive settlement payments. "They allow people to bond together to pursue their rights, whether they lost one dollar or a million dollars. As a group, they can take action on a suit that no one person could bear the cost of if they were to act alone."

Casey Gerry's class action cases include representing more than 1,000 fishermen in a historic lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). In 1994, five years after the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska, a jury award a class of 32,000 plaintiffs a verdict in excess of $5 billion.

Last year, after numerous appeals and delays by Exxon, a Federal District judge in Anchorage, Alaska ordered the oil giant to pay plaintiffs nearly $7 billion in damages and interest.

"I think class action lawsuits call rich, powerful wrongdoers to account in a way individual lawsuits simply can't do," said Bill Lerach, founding partner of Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP.

With offices in San Diego, Lerach Coughlin is one of the country's largest and most experienced class action firms. Lerach Coughlin attorneys have served as lead counsel in many high-profile class action cases, including more than 500 securities class actions. These include representing the University of California as lead plaintiff in what promises to be one of the largest securities class action in history, the lawsuit against Enron.

"As victims of widespread market or consumer fraud, individuals don't have enough incentive to pursue justice," Lerach said. "Class actions provide economic incentive that levels the playing field for the little guys. They also have a deterrent effect on wrongdoers, although it's hard to measure. But no one wants to get involved in a big, complex litigation."

The complex nature of class action suits also has drawbacks for plaintiffs and their attorneys. Both typically wait several years or longer before collecting any money from a settlement. Class action attorneys, noted Lerach, must often invest millions of their own dollars to finance litigation. In addition, they sometimes encounter hostile corporate judges and face "the smartest, most highly paid and meanest lawyers in the world" when battling large corporations, he said.

"You represent a lot of people in a class action," commented Blatt of Casey Gerry about the challenges of class action cases. "It's a big responsibility to make sure the interests of all members are taken care of."

Pursuing justice for class action plaintiffs may now be even more challenging. The recently approved Class Action Fairness Act makes it easier for defendants to push class action claims from state courts to overburdened federal courts where they're less likely to be heard. Proponents of the legislation say it is necessary to prevent class action lawsuits from driving up the cost of doing business and hurting the economy. But many believe it only protects corporations from being held accountable for unscrupulous actions.

"If legislation was fair and balanced, I would be in favor of it," Lerach said. "Class actions are extremely important and involve a huge amount of money. They need to be litigated in an open and fair manner. Unfortunately, what poses as reform legislation is all too often in fact meant to tilt the playing field in favor of corporate interests. Some things in the act are fine, but hidden in it are nasty provisions denying victims and consumers a fair day in court."

Some attorneys believe that in addition to protecting the rights of small claimants, class actions help prevent the legal system from being flooded with small individual lawsuits.

"If everyone brought individual cases to the Supreme Court, it would overwhelm the system," Blatt explained. "It's not set up to handle thousands upon thousands of $200 lawsuits."

She added that class actions help streamline the justice process by allowing one judge to be responsible for ruling over a single case representing a group of litigants with the same complaints rather than having 100 judges in 50 different jurisdictions re-do work that's already been done and make different rulings.

"Class actions conserve judicial resources and the resources of individuals," Blatt said.

Other attorneys, like Lerach, aren't totally convinced that class actions streamline the justice process. But they believe the value they provide is worth the cost.

"Class actions streamline the justice process in the sense that they avoid a multiplicity of individual lawsuits all over the country," he remarked. "But on the other hand, they bring together claims that wouldn't be asserted otherwise. They're important because they represent a way for an ordinary person to get a day in court and hold malefactors accountable. And in that sense, I say it's a good expenditure of curt time and money to keep the judicial system fair and open."