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Attention Lawyers


tosberg34
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I'm looking for advice to see if waiving my rights to a Class Action suit and suing on my own is worth it.

 

Back in 2001 we had had a brand new roof installed for $3800. The shingles were made by Certainteed. About a year ago the shingles started to curl up and disintegrate. Basically, our 9 year old roof look likes it has been on for 25 years. Well, it turns out that I'm not the only homeowner with this problem as a class action lawsuit was brought against Certainteed back in 2008 because of this. Turns out Certainteed knew the shingles were defective when they sold them but was ONLY offering to cover the shingles, NOT the labor AND on top of that they were pro-rating the shingles as well so you wouldn't get your exact cost of the shingles back.

 

They were not covering the labor costs at all. Hence, the lawsuit. Well, it turns out with the class action suit I'm only going to get about $800 or so dollars back anyways. So, I'm obviously pissed as this amount doesn't even cover 2/3 of what I originally paid. Clearly it's going to cost more NOW to replace the roof than it did in 2001.

 

Seems like you get screwed either way.

 

My question is this: Should I just stick with the class action suit so I get something back or should I go sue on my own? If I do go on my own is it worth the time and money only to get (after the lawyer takes his cut) roughly the same amount back? Or can I sue for lawyer's fees as well?

 

Any advice would be helpful or if anyone has gone thru a similar process before I'd like to hear from you as well.

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I was in a class action suit and was expecting $50 and got $1,250.

 

Did you receive a letter saying that if you join the case you should expect $800? If you join the suit you could get more. I'm not sure about bringing a lawsuit by yourself as I don't have any experience in that area.

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I was in a class action suit and was expecting $50 and got $1,250.

 

Did you receive a letter saying that if you join the case you should expect $800? If you join the suit you could get more. I'm not sure about bringing a lawsuit by yourself as I don't have any experience in that area.

 

The letter I got said they were paying out $74 per SQUARE. Note that is not SQUARE FT. but one SQUARE is 100 square feet. We have 1700 Square feet on our roof so 17 * 74 = $1258.00. But that number is further reduced by the number of years you had the shingles. My wife called the suit administrator and said that we shouldn't expect that much and that there is nothing they can do if the judge approves the settlement (which he is expected to do).

 

We thought originally it was square foot but, of course, we were wrong as this new type of measurement is what they are going by. I just don't think that is fair. Which is why I am considering suing Certainteed on my own but was wondering if it was worth it.

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It depends.

 

A lawsuit over $3,800 is problematic. Setting aside possible consumer protection laws (for the moment), a lawyer ain't going to take the case on a contingency fee basis, and you're not going to pay a lawyer a couple hundred bucks an hour to pursue it as you'll rack up $3,800 in fees in no time. So you're looking at filing the lawsuit without an attorney. What's your time worth?

 

Your state may have some type of consumer protection law which awards a prevailing consumer attorneys fees. This might make your case a little more appealing to a lawyer, providing that liability is straightforward and the company is collectable.

 

Getting $800 for doing nothing more than signing a few documents isn't a bad thing.

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I dont mean to hijack tosberg's thread(apologies if I have), but I have a question about a class action suit (and it may be something other folks around here are involved in, too) so I'll try here. Anyone receive notice about being included in a class action suit against Countrywide about a data security theft?

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