Defending Class Actions

Whatever happens at the Supreme Court, Mr. Edelson is unlikely to win many new fans. Class-action lawyers, like Wall Street short-sellers, tend to justify their actions with high-minded morality, but they are often reviled as glorified extortionists.

“If we didn’t allow class actions, we would be in a much worse world,” said Michael Klausner, a professor at Stanford Law School. “The problem is they can also be abusive.”

Over all, class actions have generally been on the decline as courts have made it harder for lawyers to certify class actions so they can go forward, said Brian Fitzpatrick, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School who studies class-action cases.

Also, over the last few years many companies have adopted so-called arbitration clauses in which, simply by clicking the “accept terms” button, users waive their rights to join class actions. The move discourages plaintiffs’ lawyers because, unless they can sue on behalf of many clients at once, there is hardly any money in filing cases. “It may only be a matter of time before it is impossible for employees and consumers to file class actions,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

Mr. Edelson seems worried about this. About three years ago, after AT&T adopted an arbitration clause, Mr. Edelson filed several dozen individual arbitrations over the course of a year. It was an expensive exercise, but forced AT&T to deal with each dispute one by one and sent a message “to other companies not to put arbitration clauses in their contracts,” he said.

AT&T still has the arbitration clause.

In defending his tactics, Mr. Edelson echoes a long-running defense of class-action law. He says he is acting like a sort of private attorney general, forcing companies to change their worst behaviors. The critical view is that lawyers like him make millions while recovering almost nothing for the people they represent.

“Everyone always has a story about getting a check from a class action for 15 cents,” said Christopher Dore, an Edelson partner. Mr. Dore said he had made peace with people questioning his profession.

“The funniest thing is you talk about it in the abstract, and people have one reaction,” he said, “but then you give them specific examples, like I’ll explain a case or something to them, and they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s really messed up. You should definitely sue them.’ ”