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Nov 29, 2017

Between Syngenta corn and dicamba drift, class action litigation has been at the forefront of agricultural legal issues in recent years.  Today, my former boss, Chuck Peifer joins us to talk about class action litigation.  Chuck is the managing partner of a commercial litigation firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which handles both plaintiffs and defendants in various commercial matters.  He has handled a number of class action lawsuits involving wage and hour issues, oil royalty underpayment cases, and security claims.

We discuss the rationale behind allowing class action litigation, how a person becomes a member of a class action lawsuit, analyzing whether a person wants to opt out of this type of suit and what it means to be a class representative or a class member in a class action lawsuit.  Next, we turn to some nuts and bolts on how class action litigation procedure works, including a class certification hearing, class notice, and how defendants may view settlement negotiations after classes are certified.  Finally, we talk about the administration and approval process if a class action lawsuit settles.  This includes a preliminary approval of the settlement by the court, sending notice to all class members, allowing objections, holding a final approval hearing, and potential appeals.  After those steps, then all class members will likely have to provide certain information to prove their claim and amount of damage. Only once all that information has been collected can payments be made.

His restaurant recommendation for the best local New Mexican food in Albuquerque is Taqueria Mexico at 415 Lomas.

Contact info for Chuck Peifer

(Email) cpeifer@peiferlaw.com

(Website) http://peiferlaw.com/ 

Links to topics mentioned on the show

- Syngenta corn litigation blog posts

Dicamba drift litigation blog post