I’ve spent a lot of time considering this belviq class action because I’m no fan of lawyers “taking advantage” of the law. But what it comes down to is that large multi-national corporations, especially insurance companies, base all of their policy decisions on profitability and return on investment. Because corporate decision making is driven by profitability, a system needs to be in place to protect consumers and make it more profitable for corporations to do what is reasonable to provide for public safety.
So, just how do you design a system that protects consumers and still allows corporations the ability to grow without undue regulation and government interference? How do you design a system that encourages a corporation to be profitable and competitive, but still protects consumers?
The difficulty arises because it is often more profitable for a company to harm a calculated percentage of consumers than to fix a problem. Just as water will always follow the path of least resistance, so too corporations will always choose the more profitable behavior. And that is why class action lawsuits are necessary in a free market where there is as little government regulation as possible. The collective compensatory damages in a class action – combined with the high legal expense – have a punitive effect on companies that damage consumers.