Since We Are Talking About Lawsuits . . .

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

. . . some AGs actually do get involved.

Credit problems, phishing scams, car issues top list of consumer complaints to Attorney General’s Office

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster :: Search Results: timeshares

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

An attorney general has much more ability to conduct a legal action of this type than does an individual.

Perhaps the biggest advantage that an AG has is automatic standing as a representative of the public.

Without the AG, a class action is, for practical purposes, the only realistic way to proceed because the amounts for any single individual to proceed. But granting class status is not automatic; that in itself is an entire legal proceeding and is the place where most class action suits fail.

An AG doesn't face that hurdle. When the AG prosecutes the case advances to the substance of the case after all of the preliminary motions and activities are completed.

In addition, in private class action cases there is an incentive for the attorneys to sell out the rest of the class to so that they can obtain their fees (and often the lead plaintiffs are in cahoots with with attorneys so they make out fine as well).

AGs are more focused on settling the case in accordance with the political winds, which often means burnishing their images as upholding consumer rights (but it can also involve such other considerations as sources of campaign contributions, support in seeking other offices, or ensuring favorable consideration for private employment after they leave office).

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

AGs are more focused on settling the case in accordance with the political winds, which often means burnishing their images as upholding consumer rights (but it can also involve such other considerations as sources of campaign contributions, support in seeking other offices, or ensuring favorable consideration for private employment after they leave office).

I've run across a couple of cases where there was a fair bit of hoopla when the AG announced he was going after TS companies, but then nothing. I don't know if the AG discovered there wasn't anything to be done, or if the AG lost interest, or if the TS company settled out of court but no one found it interesting enough to report it, but getting the AG involved isn't always as nifty as it appears. All the ones where I tracked down the end result, the best anyone got was an out of court settlement (no admission of guilt but the case dropped), however that may be because I'm following a company that does a good job of documenting or something.

The AGs who seem to me most effective are those who work to outlaw some of the "free and often worthless" kind of offers that get people in for a sales pitch and the like, rather than the ones who go after one company in particular. It's a lot easier to document that you got a card offering a free cruise (that turns out to be really tough to schedule/redeem/whatever) than it is to prove the salesperson lied once you got there, so dissatisfied customers actually have some documentation they can use to get the company in trouble/get out of the contract.

I used to have a link to an AG's list of "how tos" when it came to dealing with Timeshares, which I considered great advice but mostly consisted of stuff I thought pretty obvious. The newspaper seems to have taken it down, alas. I liked that the AG wasn't all "here I am to save the day!" (although the article was about a suit he was bringing against a particular company), but was trying to empower the vulnerable.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Florida has a decent timeshare and vacation club statute, but in my experiences with the Florida authorities, they have been pretty much pathetic, maybe a little less.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

Depending on who you ask, Florida has just under a quarter or up to 30% of U.S. timeshares - I've often wondered if that makes Florida officials more or less likely to try to keep TS companies in line. On the one hand they probably have more people getting ripped off by unscrupulous TS salespeople - OTOH they have more people working within the TS industry. Maybe they resolve it by getting good laws in place to keep their constituents happy, but being less than enthusiastic in enforcing those laws to keep the TS guys happy.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I'm guessing that most of the people ripped off by Florida developers are not Floridians, and that might lessen the FL AG's interest.