Large Corporations have masked their losses and avoided compensatory damages in part because they command legions of attorneys, corporate and compact, to combat any lawsuits. They possess the resources and political clout to drag any case against them indefinitely, wearing out potential plaintiffs to accept a measly severance.
A recent lawsuit in Torrance Court highlighted the positive influence that litigants could enjoy in reaping some recompense from faulty business policies. Heather Peters sued Honda because their Hybrid vehicles did not measure up to the advertised fuel standards. Now small-time litigants in small-claims courts are making a big difference, connecting with other like minded consumers harassed by big corporation, who until recently resigned themselves to poor compensatory damages or none at all in the face of near-impossible legal action.
As litigants communicate and compare practices and procedures for filing small claims actions, these disgruntled plaintiffs enjoy the option of pleading their case before a judge without having to face on the cabal of legal Philistines routinely dispatched by large auto manufacturers and other immense distributors. Because small claims courts ban the use of attorneys, individuals can have their day — and perhaps their day — in court without the ongoing legal and political hassles which have discouraged previous redress.
Courts at the service of the people, eschewing wasteful class action suits which only suit the needs of a team of lawyers and their law firms, may yet broaden the proper impact of the court system of maintaining integrity and honesty from businesses, small and large, without dragging the judicial system through frivolous lawsuits at great waste of taxpayer money.