What to do when you were never notified of a class action lawsuit and the deadline to join has passed?

[shaddoc98]

In 2006 my parents lost 80k in 4 days, buying bad stock (the company was investigated- that's why Isay bad)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Century#Financial_difficulties.2C_bankruptcy_and_criminal_investigation

The company whose stock they bought was later sued and settled in a class action lawsuit. http://www.newcenturysettlement.com/casedoc.html/NewCentury_Notice.pdf

The deadline for joining the lawsuit was 2010. My parents never received any communication from the broker or the company in regards to this lawsuit. I just found this information online while googling. Do we have any recourse? Any advice would be helpfull.

Thank You

[janyd]

1. Please take advice from a competent lawyer.

2. Notices in such matters are given in news papers and official gazettes.

3. There is a good article on the subject at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_action.

4. I am reproducing excerpts from the article which seem to be helpful in your case.

QUOTE:

The procedure for filing a class action is to file suit with one or several named plaintiffs on behalf of a proposed class. The proposed class must consist of a group of individuals or business entities that have suffered a common injury or injuries

In the United States, class lawsuits sometimes bind all class members.

[It] is alien to European legal thought to allow somebody to exercise rights on the behalf of a large number of people if these do not participate as parties in the action. ...


5. Please read the article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_action