[drewcrawford]

As I understand it (IANAL) the vast majority of members of the class find out during the settlement process, i.e. well AFTER the lawyers have been picked.

You can technically "opt out" and go sue the company yourself, but you're not going to get people who realistically, upon receiving notice that they are getting an unexpected settlement in-between two utility bills, decide to form their own class.

[leot]

Right. The point would to allow this kind of thing to happen more organically. Those with a grievance would aggregate before the legal team was chosen.

[digikata]

The lawyers are often "picked" because they are the only ones willing to invest many hours of legal effort out of their own pocket.