Class action lawsuits are a total scam. The only thing certain is that (1) the lawyers get very rich, and (2) the plaintiffs get d_ck. I was in a "class" in 95 - my bank was supposedly calculating late fees on credit cards incorrectly - so a greedly plaintiffs lawyer sued on behalf of about 1 million people. After a year of litigation, it settled. The class compensation per person: $0.05. That's right, 5 cents! I actually received a check in the mail for 5 cents. The lawyers, who had put in maybe 2 months of work total, received $500,000. I happened to know the office manager for this law firm and "learned" a lot about how these guys operated. In essence, they own about 1 share of every major, local company and sue on behalf of a purported class of people the minute the stock takes a quick drop. They are very, very rich lawyers.

Ultimately, they all settle before trial, which is why most people refer to the class action lawsuit as a legal form of blackmail. Thankfully, the Securities Litigation Act was passed in the mid-90's so it's a little harder to bring frivilous lawsuits.

At the end of the day, these companies pay higher insurance premiums, and pass the costs of litigation on to the consumer, so lawyer's claims that they are "helping the little guy" are more often than not - not true.