Class action lawsuits are often viewed as being complex affairs given the size and scope of plaintiff claims. In actuality, any group of victims in Charleston that has a shared grievance against the same defendant can form a class to pursue litigation. This shared effort often lends validity to their claims. Oftentimes, classes are comprised of groups of individuals, yet there may indeed be times when businesses and even city governments join together to file a shared claim.
Such is currently happening in an action initiated by the city of Baltimore. It is serving as the class representative for a number of municipalities who claim to be the victims of a price-fixing scheme perpetrated by various Fannie and Freddie Bond suppliers (referring to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage programs). These bonds are traded through a supplier network, which the plaintiffs claimed facilitated the scheme by allowing the providers to manipulate prices by controlling their availability. Baltimore city officials began looking into this trading market after it was announced that the Justice Department had opened up an investigation to the bond retailer. The results of Baltimore’s investigation that the city alone lost over $1 billion over a five-year period. Included in the lawsuit are many of the world’s major financial institutions.
As was mentioned earlier, the number of parties involved in a class action lawsuit can often lead to claims of considerable size. For this reason, multi-million dollar settlements can be the common outcomes of such cases. Yet such rewards are typically not earned easily (and they are shared amongst the class). Those hoping that their class action will produce the compensation they need may wish to work with an attorney to help ensure that happens.
