a small claims suit costs $20 to file, but you could potentially win $10,000 and cost their legal team $600 for each lawsuit filed.
a class action costs nothing, but the legal fees are taken out of the settlement FIRST, and you have to carve up the nickels among perhaps millions of others, and the defendants only have to pay one legal team.
You better read your terms of service, before suing, because if the ability to do this is claimed in the contract you signed opening your account, the case will be decided against you, or thrown out.
I agree that people need to take legal action, but the TOS issue is one that's going to stop a lot of suits in their tracks.
I don't use Robinhood, so I don't have access to the TOS they have in place, but I'm gonna poke around and get a copy, and take a look.
I don't use RH either, but my brokerage does not have an arbitration clause. The point of a small claims suit is that regardless of your TOS, it will still cost their legal teams $600 in fees for each suit we file for a cost to us of $20. small claims courts don't generally work the same as grown up courts and an appearance is generally mandatory with a high chance of default judgements with enough volume.
I'm looking at the TOS on the Robinhood site - the indemnification clause is one you should look at, and then the venue clause after it. By agreeing to the TOS, if you sue, you have to sue in Santa Clara, CA courts. Robinhood is not a small company - and they have staff lawyers and paralegals. They're hiring for a staff lawyer right now, on their website. So that $600 fee you think will damage them? Some staff lawyer will schlep over to the court and it won't cost them an extra dime, because it's part of that lawyer's salary.
Besides, the TOS is key. If they claim the ability to change trades at will, nothing will be accomplished in small claims. I'm not sure class action will get anything done, either. This is bigger than that. The SEC needs to step in, but they won't, because they're members of the Big Boys club, that includes all of Wall Street and the hedge funds.
I'm not a lawyer, so I'd want to run this by an actual lawyer to translate the TOS into real language, and find out if I had standing, before filing any suit. That's just common sense, to me.
don't be fucking stupid!
File a private claim in small claims court to overwhelm their legal team!
This
Why not both?
you give up your individual right to sue if you join a class action.
That's a good reason for not both. Learn something new everyday
a small claims suit costs $20 to file, but you could potentially win $10,000 and cost their legal team $600 for each lawsuit filed.
a class action costs nothing, but the legal fees are taken out of the settlement FIRST, and you have to carve up the nickels among perhaps millions of others, and the defendants only have to pay one legal team.
You can't join a class action AND file an individual lawsuit.
You better read your terms of service, before suing, because if the ability to do this is claimed in the contract you signed opening your account, the case will be decided against you, or thrown out.
I agree that people need to take legal action, but the TOS issue is one that's going to stop a lot of suits in their tracks.
I don't use Robinhood, so I don't have access to the TOS they have in place, but I'm gonna poke around and get a copy, and take a look.
I don't use RH either, but my brokerage does not have an arbitration clause. The point of a small claims suit is that regardless of your TOS, it will still cost their legal teams $600 in fees for each suit we file for a cost to us of $20. small claims courts don't generally work the same as grown up courts and an appearance is generally mandatory with a high chance of default judgements with enough volume.
I'm looking at the TOS on the Robinhood site - the indemnification clause is one you should look at, and then the venue clause after it. By agreeing to the TOS, if you sue, you have to sue in Santa Clara, CA courts. Robinhood is not a small company - and they have staff lawyers and paralegals. They're hiring for a staff lawyer right now, on their website. So that $600 fee you think will damage them? Some staff lawyer will schlep over to the court and it won't cost them an extra dime, because it's part of that lawyer's salary.
Besides, the TOS is key. If they claim the ability to change trades at will, nothing will be accomplished in small claims. I'm not sure class action will get anything done, either. This is bigger than that. The SEC needs to step in, but they won't, because they're members of the Big Boys club, that includes all of Wall Street and the hedge funds.
I'm not a lawyer, so I'd want to run this by an actual lawyer to translate the TOS into real language, and find out if I had standing, before filing any suit. That's just common sense, to me.
TOS and EULAs can say whatever they want, doesn't mean it's legal and will stand up in court.