Attorney Jean-Marc Goldnadel knew he was going to make waves when he launched classaction.fr _ a French Web site that lets users sign up to lawsuits online for as little as 12 euros ($14.50).
Sure enough, the site has ruffled France's traditionalist establishment and raised the temperature of a debate on government plans to let plaintiffs file U.S.-style class actions in French courts.
But Maitre Goldnadel underestimated the backlash, and even several consumer groups are trying to shut him down. A verdict is due next month on their court challenge, the second against the site, and the Paris Bar Council is scouring its pages for ethics breaches.
Opponents of the government's plans have also seized on classaction.fr as evidence that a class action law would encourage the kind of "excesses" that the United States is now trying to curb: ambulance- chasing lawyers, ruinous damages awards and spurious lawsuits used to blackmail companies into settlements.
