The primary point of class action suits it to STOP the damaging actions of the defendant. The $$ is all for the lawyers, but the result is PRO consumer.
Consider the infamous case of the Hertz rental car company class action: The rental company had been charging an additional "Fee" of about (I can't remember the exact amount, but it was very small) $3.50 for each rental that was not on the original paperwork, but did show up on the credit card statement. Most consumers just accepted the fee thinking it was some legitimate fee that was "probably" disclosed, but they did not remember, after all, it was only a louse $3.50, so the charge would not be contested. Now, calculate the $3.50 per the millions upon millions of rentals Hertz made in just one year. You get a really fat goose laying grade AAA golden eggs.
If a consumer finds this bogus charge and decides they want their money back (credit on the CC?), at the end of the process Hertz never refunded the fee and pretty much seemed to say "too bad." Now, if you want to seek justice and get the money back, it would cost you far, far, far more in money, either personally or in legal fees to see to it that Hertz does the right thing and returns your money or stops the practice. The government far too often does NOTHING! This is exactly how a company can set up a charge so that it makes no economic sense to get back your "stolen" money by taking the only course of action left to the consumer: legal action. The only economical way for people to either get some form of restitution (maybe 5 cents in cash) AND force Hertz to STOP this dishonest, immoral charge is if they have a multi-million dollar judgement or settlement that costs a company like Hertz way too much money. At the end, class action is hardly perfect, and they lawyers all walk away with most of the money, but it does STOP companies from continuing to cheat people out of a few dollars multiplied by millions. Otherwise, Hertz would still be charging everyone, including those who did not know it was a bogus charge, who rented from Hertz. Class Action is like grades: it aint perfect, but it's all we got, and we are better off WITH it than without it. Keep in mind there are those who want to get rid of Class Action suits altogether, and that is NOT good. Class Action does not make the consumer rich, but it does bring at least a form of justice and forces companies to cease immoral, illegal activities that cost consumers money.