Hundreds of Bernie Sanders donors have launched a massive class action lawsuit against the DNC alleging fraud and collusion with the Hillary Clinton campaign, in a move designed to fundamentally change the way the DNC exists and conducts business, and thousands more people have requested paperwork to sign on as plaintiffs in the past 48 hours.
Beck & Lee Trial Lawyers, a civil litigation firm based in Miami, Florida, is announcing the filing of a class action lawsuit against the DNC early next week, and anyone who donated to the DNC after Bernie Sanders entered the race for the Democratic nomination, either directly or through third-party payment platforms, along with anybody who donated to Bernie Sanders’ campaign at any stage of the primaries and caucuses, is eligible to join the lawsuit.
Considering around two million people donated a combined seven million contributions averaging $27 a piece – and they are all eligible to join the lawsuit – this has the potential to turn into one of the largest class actions in American history.
‘Signed agreements are coming in steadily and we continue to get new requests by the minute,’ Beck & Lee partner Jared Beck said.
“We think that the DNC has been running absolutely out of control and completely disregarding their responsibilities, rights, and duties to the public,” attorney Elizabeth Beck said.
Jared Beck said whether or not a “class” in the lawsuit is deemed valid by the court will depend on a number of factors, but the number of class representatives in the lawsuit could be as high as the number of individual donors to Sanders’ campaign.
“The way a class action works in civil litigation is that not everybody who is represented or is a member of the class needs to be a class plaintiff,” Beck said in a phone interview. “We’ll be seeking relief for everybody who falls into the class around the country.”
“Given the average donation of $27, that could be a lot of people, to say the least,” he added.
The basis for the lawsuit stems from DNC internal communications published by hacker Guccifer 2.0, who took ownership of the compromising of DNC servers and allegedly leaked their contents. Among other items, the leaks revealed emails showing the DNC had been actively working behind the scenes to boost Hillary Clinton’s profile in the media as early as May 26, 2015, nearly a month after Sanders had entered the race for the Democratic nomination.
New leaks published this week showed the DNC spent time and resources assessing Clinton’s vulnerabilities as a candidate in the early summer of 2015, and the DNC even drafted talking points for campaign operatives to suggest as narratives to members of the media, attempting to inject their own phrasing into third-party stories.
Beck said he believes the lawsuit will be successful, as Article 5, Section 4 of the charter and bylaws of the Democratic Party explicitly requires the chair of the DNC to remain impartial during the primary process:
“In the conduct and management of the affairs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.”
Beck also said a fraud lawsuit is justified due to multiple actions taken by DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who served as co-chair of Clinton’s 2008 campaign. Wasserman Schultz repeatedly claimed neutrality throughout the primary season despite numerous allegations from the Sanders campaign and national media that she tipped the scales in Clinton’s favor throughout the Democratic primary, most notably by scheduling the debates during low-viewership timeslots and by shutting down the Sanders campaign’s access to its voter file database for 24 hours.
“The DNC needs to do what it says in its charter, which is to be even-handed and unbiased in response to the slate of candidates running for the nomination,” Beck told US Uncut.
Elizabeth Lee Beck, a senior partner at the firm who is helping to coordinate the lawsuit, said thousands of messages have poured in from Sanders supporters across the country.
“People use words like, ‘angry,’ ‘I feel cheated,’ ‘Thank you for giving us a voice,’” Elizabeth Beck said. “I’ve read comments like, ‘I would have gotten the same results as if I had flushed my money down the commode.’”
“The common thread among all these emails is they feel deeply aggrieved and cheated, which is a natural response to being defrauded,” she added.
Elizabeth Beck described the shock she felt at an email from a Sanders supporter that spoke to the depth of sacrifice that the Vermont senator’s donors made to support his campaign.
“I remember someone said, ‘I donated $35, but if I had known then what I know now, I wouldn’t have done it. That was a trip to the grocery store,’” she recalled.
According to Jared Beck, no venue has yet been picked to file the lawsuit, which he expects to be officially filed early next week to allow for a hearing before the Democratic National Convention on July 25. Under federal law, the DNC, as a defendant in a class action lawsuit, has 20 days to respond upon being served. He said there are several options the DNC can choose from in how it responds.
“They can issue a motion to dismiss or move to stay the case, which means they try to delay it. I don’t know what kind of strategy we’ll see from them,” Beck said. “There’s not a lot of precedent for this type of lawsuit, so it’s really hard to say what we’d expect from the defendant at this point.”
Jared Beck described this lawsuit as unique in that the goal is to not just secure financial compensation, but to fundamentally change the way the DNC exists and conducts business.
“You have people who say they’re homeless or unemployed, and they gave whatever was in their pockets to Bernie, and you have doctors and lawyers who have given thousands of dollars… We’re civil litigators, and usually our cases can be reduced to dollars and cents, but I don’t know if any amount of money could compensate for American democracy, which is priceless to me. I think anything short of a fundamental change in the way the DNC conducts itself is not acceptable… This isn’t a case that’s about money, this is a case about the fairness about the Democratic process.”
Beck and Lee is a civil litigation firm that has previously won multi-million dollar judgments in previous civil cases. While their firm is based in Florida, they have prior experience in nationwide class action lawsuits, with Elizabeth Lee Beck serving as co-lead counsel in a nationwide class action case against Unilever.
E mail address and form again please?
I am sure that many more than 2 million would have joined in this law suit out of principle but did not have access to a link that would allow them to join the suit. If you have this information please post it.
1st time in my life i saw a candidate with honor integrity and honesty who always spoke for us and seldom used the word I.since president Kennedy and president Carter .i am never involving myself in any elections again unless things are made right and she goes to prison like any of us would.the law does not just apply to the poor!
yes please. i want my money back. then i NEED some reimbursement for the damage that has resulted in my distrust in my government, for my new found dissatisfaction of this country and my general lack of hope. thanks. “they the people” is what it all boils down to.
This is a civil suit, so it cannot result in a prison term for the DNC chairperson. That would be a criminal case. Unless they can make them change their nominee based on this fraud, it’s not enough for me. They’ve gotten away with it, even if they have to repay donors. And from what this says, you have to have donated money to be a party to this suit, loss of faith in the government, etc, does not count, although it should. So should the destruction that is going to come to this country from the November election since the right candidate wasn’t nominated. They need to be able to force them to un-nominate HC and nominate Bernie or they got away with it. Losing money isn’t hurting them. What they pay it back with will be money that was donated to their organization. It’s not coming out of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s pocket. I didn’t know that she was a part of HC’s 2008 campaign until I read this. She should’ve been removed from her position at the DNC immediately when HC signed on to run. This pisses me off so bad. The hours and hours that I’ve lost on here reading up on this and other candidates to decide how to vote in November since I can’t vote for Bernie should be enough of a loss to join in on the suit. Not to mention the pain and suffering from worrying about what will happen when either of these candidates are elected.
The reality is Bernie Sanders is not running for President anymore. He has put his support behind CLinton,and he himself is looking towards a future with her as President/Commander in Chief. Their may had been some issues of bias as related to certain people within the DNC,however no crime was committed under the law in regards to online chatter. The Sanders campaign although popular still trailed Clinton in votes tabulated,regardless of any “alleged ” meddling within the DNC. Sen.Sanders did poorly in the more racially diverse population in regards to garnering voter support,and without a strong Black voting turnout,he would never had won the nomination anyway!…regardless of any “alleged ” meddling within the DNC.
Andre, much love to you, but you don’t get to live in an alternate reality. Join the real world…the DNC along with every single layer of government, every institution you hold dear, is corrupt. The system in which we exist, which dictates our lives before we are conceived or born, has screwed us over yet again. The only difference is that this time more people are awake; and there’s credible proof. Great combination for social unrest. My only question is, why are you defending the powers that work to suppress you?
THE “DEMOCRATIC” PARTY IS AS DEMOCRATIC AS THE “DEMOCRATIC” PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA. See, you’re only supposed to put word in quotes when its ironic, otherwise your showing your “alleged” ignorance. Again, much love. Join the real fight. Stand with the 99%, not with the 1%.
And, Hillary only thinks black votes matter, as far as lives go, she thinks she needs to bring the “superpredators” to “heel”. She is a disgusting human being.
While potentially embarrassing for the DNC, this lawsuit has no chance. While bias may have existed, there’s a lack of proof that actions were actually undertaken that had any significant impact on the outcome. Mostly what I hear is a lot of complaining from people who followed an independent candidate into the Democratic Party and then complained when they didn’t like the National or State-wide rules they encountered. Bernie needed the Democratic party because he needed the primary system to raise money and to raise his profile. The rules of the party were specifically created (superdelegates and registration deadlines) so that an outsider like Sanders couldn’t just join the party and hijack the nomination process or the platform. I’d also like to introduce the Bernie-backers to the term “tyranny of the majority.” It’s a reality in a democratic process that 51% of a voting body can inflict their values and choices on the other 49%. It doesn’t mean your voice wasn’t heard, it just means you lost.
Even with millions of voices silenced, Bernie had millions more backing him. That’s hardly “hijacking” the nomination. That’s a really embarrassing way to describe the safety politics of a private political party.
Previously, Bernie never ran as a democrat in any race, ever. The state and federal rules for the Democratic Party were specifically created to keep an outsider to the party from being successful. Understandably, a lot of people who were not registered as democrats also wanted to join the party so that they could vote for him.
These rules exist for a reason. Without them, people could switch party affiliations any time they wanted specifically to sway elections. My original point was that these lawsuits are baseless and the people filing them are delusional. We should actually be filing lawsuits against the states that hold caucuses (which played better to Bernie’s demographics) since they disenfranchise lower income voters.
keep telling yourself that, maybe one day you will actually believe it because we do not.
Great article, but you forgot to mension what to do if you wanted to join he movement????
https://youtu.be/hU4I6C-9JZw this explains a lot. I found this from doing online investigative work. I am not the attorney.
The entire government is “broken”, do not blame the DNC.
REALITY: If you don’t vote, if you vote third party – you’re a Trump vote.
Vote Hillary (whom Sanders will help), and work to fix our government oligarchy AFTER the election!
While the political system may be broken, Lucy, the DNC *lied* to every single one of us, from the very beginning. We backed a candidate that would have fixed the oligarchy, and you’re saying we should vote for their shill?
I hope this bankrupts the DNC. They are corrupt and it needs to be dismantled and the old score of participants needs to be barred from the DNC and shown the inside of a jail cell. Debbie and Hillary need to be thrown into jail and punished for this. Until they clean up their acts . I will not vote for any candidate endorsed by the DNC. If that mans that Trump wins then so be it. I will be handwriting in Bernie Sanders which is my right in the state I live in . I highly suggest that any others who can do so do so.
Where can I sign up? Can you please share the email address and form?
LOL this is really funny
About time someone has called them to account for their illegal actions. It’s ridiculous how public officials are ignoring the law and getting away with it.
Email Beck & Lee to request paper work: [email protected]
$ 27 is going to break you all? There are other ways to deal in your disappointment then getting involved in litigation. You may get your money back, but how much, are the lawyers going to rake in using you as a pawn.
Money is not the issue for us, but it sure is an issue for trump and hillary. I don’t like to donate online, I only did this because I put all my trust and hope in BERNIE… If he doesn’t win, yes, we should all get our money back.. Some people gave $100 – why shouldn’t they get it back, when everything was fraud anyway? The way I look at it, we were all defrauded of our time, hope, and money! Let the rich pay for their crooks.
This primary has illumated and proven what everyone thought I was paranoid and stupid over – that the government takes care of itself. “We the people” my ass. It’s all power and money for them – as long as they can keep it in their pockets, they could give two flying shits about us.
Bernie was the first man who had me believing that someone cared about us again. Hillary sure as hell doesn’t. She’ll just do whatever her backers want her to do – and if we’re not an interest to them, we won’t be an interest to her. Her consistent history of lying and waffling and flip flopping throughout her entire political career tells me whatever she stands for now/promises us now – will probably change within the first year of her term.
And Trump? He’s just out of his mind. The guy stands for hate. Nothing but hate. I hate this, I hate that, I hate your baby, I hate protesters, I hate immigrants, I hate paying my bills to contractors that did all of their work properly – Hate hate hate hate.
I’m voting for Jill – because while she and Hillary have the same answers to the political questions they were asked, I don’t feel Jill is lying when she answers them.
I donated just five bucks to Bernie. That’s literally all I had. It’s barely anything to whine about, but it was still -my- money, and somebody still stole -my- money. I do work you know. In a very not so pleasant place. For a non-living wage. So that five bucks is about 45 minutes of emotional abuse I had to take from my bosses/customers. Five bucks isn’t a fucking joke when you realize where it came from in the first place.