Parasitic Class Action Lawsuits

Free drinks?!

I received an email today telling me of a class action settlement. It turns out that if I fill out a bunch of paperwork I may be able to claim some drink vouchers from Southwest Airlines. Apparently some heroic lawyers from Chicago are protecting me from the big bad airline that let my drink vouchers expire.

Is it worth anybodies time to fill out that much paperwork for a couple lousy drink vouchers? Who is benefitting from this settlement? Certainly not the downtrodden masses that the settlement supposedly protects. I think the primary motivation for this exercise in justice is that several million dollars will be transferred from Southwest Airlines to a couple Chicago lawyers. Does this benefit society in any way?

You can read the gory details on their website:

https://www.southwestvouchersettlement.com/Home/FAQ#faq12

I think that sometimes the public needs to be protected from powerful corporations and class action lawsuits can do that. But in this case I feel that lawyers are the ones who are mainly benefitting. Perhaps we need to reform the laws regarding class action lawsuits.