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At this point, the legal team has to try to contact all the members of the class. In the case against CoxHealth’s radiation incident, if the suit is certified, the legal group involved will contact the 76 patients exposed to too much radiation. Comparatively, a Toyota class-action suit would involve thousands.
Those who receive notification can choose whether to join the class. because there is already a person named as the plaintiff, the new person can join the suit but doesn’t need to be directly part of the litigation process, Weeks said.
He said sometimes courts grant more money in an award to the person who originally brought the suit, but not substantially more. “The courts are careful; the awards won’t be anything like a lottery ticket,” he said.
The amount awarded to each plaintiff is the choice of the court. In some cases decided in the plantiffs’ favor, the judge awards a specific dollar amount plus applicable legal fees to be paid by the other party.
In the red-light camera case, the judge could award more than just the $100 fee that was paid, but the lawyer in the case said there’s no way to know what will happen in a case that may not be resolved for years.
Jason Umbarger, the attorney in the red-light class-action suit, was the lawyer in the Supreme Court case that overturned the city’s administrative hearing process. He said the best solution would be for the case not to go to trial.
“I’m hoping that what will happen is the city will just choose, ‘We had no legal basis to collect this money, we’ve got some people here who are entitled to those funds, and we’re just going to pay those refunds,’” he said. “I think that’s the right thing to do, and I’m confident our city leadership will do that.”
He said if the city refunded the more than $800,000 in fees paid by the owners of the vehicles caught allegedly running a red light, he would have no reason to continue with the suit — as his suit is only asking for the money back.
City staff has indicated that they may have considered refunds before the suit was filed, but won’t now.
Umbarger’s case against the city of Springfield has attracted attention because rather than naming a plaintiff specifically, John Doe is named as the plaintiff.
“Some of the folks who are involved in this deal may not want everyone to know, ‘Hey look at me, I got a ticket,’” Umbarger said.
He was concerned that naming a person specifically in this case would subject them to scrutiny, including the possibility that insurance companies would raise rates after hearing that a customer paid a fine after being accused of running a red light.
“It’s incredibly uncommon, bordering on unprecedented,” said David Pointer, a lawyer with a firm in Gainesville, regarding an unnamed plaintiff. He cast doubt on whether the case would be certified as it stands.
Umbarger said he may name a plaintiff in the future — if someone comes forward and is willing to be named — but for now he’s keeping his client’s confidentiality.