An example of the type of work i could do

I was at the laudromat, and this guy lost his change to a machine. Because it is a slimly low class laundromat, there is no attendant. Worse, there is no posted number to call. Unless you're willing to wait until the owner closes shop at midnight, your shit out of luck.

If it happens once you might let it slide, but if it happens with any frequency at all you'd probably get pissed. Not because the $1.50 is something to cry over, but because you ought to get what you pay for. Then you start to think: how long has that machine been stealing people's quarters without an 'out of service' sign? Left long enough, the machine could generate its owner hundreds of dollars or more. Somebody ought to sue the asshole.

Problem: It would cost far more than $1.50 in court costs alone. It's not worth it.

Solution: The Consumer Fraud Act. If I can prove that the laundromat owner engaged in an unconscionable consumer practice, he pays your fees and costs. That includes an award of a reasonable attorney fee. Plus, he'll have to pay triple damages.

Problem: So what? Three times $1.50 is $4.50. In the meantime, he made tons of money.

Solution: I bring it as a class action, with you as the class representative. We bring the suit on behalf of everyone whose been ripped off by the laundromat. Often, the Court will even award a lead plaintiff a sizable stipend as an incentive for others to take on small time crooks. I get paid my hourly rate by the laundromat, the laundromat gets stripped of the money he was unjustly enriched by, and the lead plainiff might get awarded thousands of dollars as a thank you from the court.

Problem: We can't get the ripped off people their money back because theres no way of proving who was ripped off and who wasn't.

Solution: There's precedent for this situation. Just because its hard to figure out who needs to be compensated doesn't meant that the crook gets to keep the money. In one case, cab drivers were ripping off countless cash customers at an airport. Of course, there was no way to identify the defruaded - but the Court ordered the cab companies to offer their services at deep discounts below operating costs until the debt was paid. In other cases, the court can order un-earned sums be given to a charity.

So thats just one example of how I can make a $1.50 case work.