Defense Bar Poll Finds Mixed Feelings On Class Actions

A poll commissioned by DRI, the organization of defense attorneys and in-house counsel, looked at public attitudes toward issues related to class action lawsuits. A breakdown of some of the results suggests people have mixed feelings about the topic. A large majority, 78 percent, would support class action reform that would require plaintiffs to show actual harm, not just potential for harm. By almost as great a margin, they think that lawyers get too much money: Seventy percent thought that class actions results in “unjustified lawyers’ fees.” Sixty-two percent thought that class actions force blameless companies to settle. Still, a majority of respondents – 54 percent – said that class actions do “help to hold companies responsible,” and nearly three-fourths of respondents found forced arbitration to be “not acceptable.”