Class Action Lawsuit: Any Advice?

[I'm Lost]

Long story short, I bought stock in Netflix before it tanked big time last year. Apparently I wasn't the only one and now a law firm out of Cali is taking a case against Netflix for securities violations. I have been contacted by my brokerage firm with the information and I am eligible to join the suit.

I realize that buying a stock is a gamble and I'm typically not too bent out of shape over loses (big or small), it comes with playing the market. Having said that, I read over the official complaint and it does seem as though there was some artificial inflation of their value and back door deals by the company that made investors feel like they were a worthwhile company.

My question is basically does anyone have experience with these things? Any advice on what to avoid? Should I avoid it all together? I'm under no pretext that I will get rich (or even any substantial amount of compensation) and I don't know if I should join the suit or not. So, should I just cut my loses and be done with it, or should I join the suit to help benefit those people who were really hurt by (possible) unlawful business practices?

I'm young and never had to deal with anything like this so advice will be greatly appreciated.

[TennesseeDave]

I have declined to take part in two class action suits. The complainants got peanuts while the lawyers walked away with millions.

However, if you think you can get back what you lost, i think it'd be worth a shot.

[Check 6]

The results vary, and yes, the lawyers will "run up the meter" with billable hours and cash in big time.

Over the years I have opted into C/A suits and remember two of them. One was in the 90s against American Airlines. I received some vouchers for discounted tickets, but they were worthless. They had huge restrictions that made it impossible to use them.

More recently I was a member of a C/A suit against some credit card companies charging fees for using cards OCONUS without notifying the card holders in their TOS.

About 3-4 months ago I received a check for $685.

Your mileage may vary.

[mb5417]

Originally Posted by TennesseeDave

I have declined to take part in two class action suits. The complainants got peanuts while the lawyers walked away with millions.

However, if you think you can get back what you lost, i think it'd be worth a shot.

I was told years ago by a very successful litigation attorney that class actions only enriched the law firms.

[Remington Raider]

Originally Posted by mb5417

I was told years ago by a very successful litigation attorney that class actions only enriched the law firms.

BUT if you are legally are part of the "class", unless you plan on bringing your own action (highly unlikely) you should opt in and get what you can, even if it is worthless.

If you have a million potential members of a class, but everyone but one opts out, in the event of a settlement, the lawyers are gonna get paid, but so is that one person.

Unless you think you can prevail on your own, get on the MF bus.

[triumph]

I was involved in one a few years ago and received a significant amount. It involved employee classification levels and the class membership only was in the low thousands.

[tooslow]

I stay in when something like that comes up.
Yes, the attorneys get an awful lot of money, but I get a farthing or two for injustice.
Lawn mower engine and Random Access Memory come to mind.
The suit is going forth, anyway, so why not get the farthing?