US Legal System at Work

I went to Jimmy Johns for lunch last week and there was a stack of these Notices on the counter. Apparently, a Los Angeles resident was miffed that JJ omitted the advertised sprouts from her sandwich and filed suit. The suit was granted class action status and was settled through a mediator. She was awarded $ 5000 in damages, JJ had to make the offer shown in the notice, and the attorneys walked away with $ 370,000. If I were JJ, I'd require anyone making a claim to produce a receipt from the period listed documenting they ordered a sandwich with sprouts. Only then could they get their free pickle. You cannot make up this stuff - ridiculous.

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I don't know which is sillier, the fact that somebody would even file a class action lawsuit over the issue or the fact that the court actually agreed! Of course as usual, the only person who ended up making money was the layer.

No such case number exists for Los Angles superior court actions. No doubt we will be reading about this on Snopes website before too long. Me smells a marketing ploy.

No such case number exists for Los Angles superior court actions. No doubt we will be reading about this on Snopes website before too long. Me smells a marketing ploy.

It appears on the Jimmy John's website, so my guess is that it's for real.

https://www.jimmyjohns.com/uploadedFile ... es_JJF.pdf

Yeah I saw some "legaleez" jargon on the JJ site but when I went to the city of LA court records ( they are open to the public) that court case number does not exist.

This article gives another slant to the story:
http://www.startribune.com/business/279631652.html

Wow. Just wow . I was so hoping it was a phony press release but I guess our court system is as goofy as the British says it is. I am so embarrassed .

I don't believe the court rendered this settlement. Rather, it was agreed to by both parties, so I'm less inclined to damn the entire legal system, or at least the civil side.

Of course, none of this has any bearing on the apparent frivolous nature of this case.

Not that I agree with the frivolity here, but if it had to happen to somebody, I couldn't think of a better person than Jimmy John Liautaud. I would love to have been there to witness his reaction.

The official court document is here:
http://www.classactionsnews.com/sites/default/files/downloadables/settlements/jimmy_johns_false_advertisement_class_action_settlement_notice.pdf

My favorite part:

"...each of the following payments will be sought...Class Representative Heather Starks, a sum of $5,000 in addition to what she would receive as Participating Claimant in this action to compensate her..."

So, Heather gets $5000 and a pickle!

Wow. Just wow . I was so hoping it was a phony press release but I guess our court system is as goofy as the British says it is. I am so embarrassed .

As bad as the US court system is, no one from Airstrip One has any room to talk.

Something is rotten in Denmark . . .

Jimmy John's "agreed" to settle this ridiculous case by providing a voucher for a free side item up to $1.40 in value in stores up to a total amount of $750,000 for all vouchers.

So, Jimmy Johns pays $750,000 to get a story published all over the country that if you come into a store and buy a sandwich you can get a free cookie, pickle or bag of chips. Hmmmm, I wonder how much more it would've cost to market such a promotion in the traditional manner????

Jimmy Johns wasn't born yesterday.