Except neither SouthWest nor Delta nor AA have contacted me, only the law firm. So im still not convinced my privacy rights havent been contravened - when buying a ticket i dont recall reading a term that says my contact details could be passed to lawyers inventing work for themselves.
In Aus law firms advertise to solicit participants in any class action, they cant demad a company hand over customer records on a fishing expedition to find complainants.
Actually - usually there is an advertisement to seek the class representatives i.e. to find the minimum of 7 people who has an action against the same party. Once they have these originating members and meet the other threshold requirements then you are automatically in the class. This is because Australia operates an Opt Out model too i.e. you have to give written notice that you wish to be excluded from the class.
And no your privacy rights have not been contravened - as I pointed out, there is an exception to the privacy legislation and that is when there is a court order. And this is what happens - the Court orders the sharing of the class members details so the Opt Out correspondence can be issued.
So there is no fishing expedition to find complainants - the law firm advertises for the class representatives, they get the numbers and form the class, have it certified and then everyone else 'affected' becomes a class member unless they opt out.
There is plenty of material online to read up about class actions if you are so minded.
