Mass Tort & Class Action Lawyers

A mass tort is a civil lawsuit that normally has multiple plaintiffs that are suing one or a couple of corporations as the defendants. A mass tort can be brought in federal or state court.

This type of action is referred to as a mass tort by the courts partly due to there being multiple litigants, but also due to the fact that mass media is used by the plaintiffs’ mass tort attorney to discover more individuals who the corporation has hurt.

In order for a lawsuit to be considered a mass tort, a product must have harmed numerous people, those people were harmed by the same defendant, and their suit is consolidated into a single action instead of everyone having a separate lawsuit.

The main difference between class actions and mass torts is how a large number of plaintiffs are treated. With a class action, a lawsuit gets filed on an entire group of people behalf who have suffered similar harm due to the actions of the defendant. That means all of the plaintiffs who are part of the class action get treated as a single plaintiff.

The defendant gets sued by the lead plaintiff on behalf of the whole class. In a mass tort, each of the group’s plaintiffs is treated as individuals. That means that certain facts must be established for each plaintiff, including how the defendant’s action harmed the person.

Usually, the number of plaintiffs is smaller in a mass tort compared to a class action. That is because mass torts have distinct groups of people with similar injuries living in the same geographic location.

Mass torts are also broader and can involve different kinds of injuries that were the result of a defendant or several different corporate defendants’ actions or inactions. Some common mass tort examples include lawsuits against manufacturers of defective products or defective drugs.

Class action lawsuits, by contrast, are more specific. Definite common characteristics must be shared by the plaintiffs in the class. Each class action lawsuit member must be notified of his or her rights or role in the class.

Three major factors set apart mass torts from other types of personal injury lawsuits. The first one is there are numerous claims that are made against one product or device. Second, although there are many different plaintiffs, from one plaintiff to the next, the underlying facts are the same or very similar. Finally, the various claims that are part of a mass tort mutually rely on one another – with each claim being a building block in the case.

Technological advances, especially in distribution and production, are one of the major reasons why the legal arena needs to have mass torts. Due to large distribution and production, many people may be affected by one product. There are many different areas of law that are involved in mass tort litigation, but the two that are the most common include:

Pharmaceutical Claims – Products are often released by pharmaceutical companies without the proper testing being conducted or even knowing whether or not there are any serious side effects. They may be medical devices, over the counter medicines or prescribed drugs.

Product Claims – Whenever a product does not work the way consumers expect or is dangerous, individuals who are injured by the dangerous device can sue the company through filing a product claim.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys need to ask permission from the court in order for a mass tort action filed. To determine whether or not permission will be given by the court, the following needs to be considered by the judge:

• Number of plaintiffs
• Where plaintiffs are located to one another
• How similar plaintiff injuries are to one another
• Whether or not the plaintiffs have a common cause

If the court determines that the case before them is a mass tort, then the case will quickly be assigned by the judge and might order the lawyers to publicize the lawsuit in the event that there are other people who the product has harmed and who would like to add their names to the lawsuit.

Although a mass rot is a type of class action, it does differ from class action torts. Plaintiffs who are part of a mass tort have their own individual clams. Each of the plaintiffs has a separate trial. There is just one trial with a class action, and the plaintiffs are not considered as individuals by the law.

Tort cases may be resolved in various ways. In some cases, a class action will be formed by the plaintiffs, which is a specific kind of mass tort claim. Class actions involve numerous individuals who have not only been harmed by the same products but suffer a similar kind of loss or injury as well. Whenever people join together for a class action, the “lead plaintiffs” are the only ones who ever go to court.

There are just a limited number of people who are given a say in the settlement that is accepted or the way that the damage money will be distributed among all of the action’s parties. Although class actions are something that most people are aware of, it isn’t necessarily the best course of action for individual victims or dangerous products or defective drugs to receive full compensation for their losses.

Another kind of mass tort that may give more autonomy to individual plaintiffs over their cases and make it possible for individuals to obtain more compensation is multi-district litigation (MDL). In this type of litigation, a lawyer is able to investigate numerous cases as well as represent numerous plaintiffs who were wrongs in a similar way.

A court can make determinations on certain procedural issues and motions just one time, rather than having to hear the same arguments in different cases over and over again. However, the plaintiffs can keep more control over their claim and each of the victims who have been harmed and filed a lawsuit will receive a damage award or settlement offer that is appropriate for that person’s specific injuries.

Mass tort litigation can be cost-effective and efficient whenever a large group of people is organized. Usually, most of the litigation is handled by the attorneys, and a smaller role is played by the plaintiffs. Also, it is easier for a court to be able to see the effects that have been caused by a defective product whenever plaintiffs have similar proof.

Mass tort cases still can be very challenging, despite these advantages, since many courts are not properly equipped to handle large numbers of litigants. Corporations might claim they are unable to fairly defend themselves against the numerous claims.

These lawsuits heavily rely on having an experienced and qualified lawyer. A mass tort attorney who fails to get many the many people who are part of the group organized can ruin the cases, and cause the settlement to be unfairly allocated.

Like a majority of personal injury lawyers, we charge a contingency fee to represent a client as part of a mass tort action.

Contingency fees are only paid if compensation is recovered for the client. That means you – as well as other plaintiffs who are part of a mass tort – will not pay any attorney fees until and unless your case is either won at trial or settled.

Typically, the final legal fees are calculated according to an agreed-upon percentage of your total award. Paying your attorney based on a contingency fee makes it possible for you to pursue fair compensation without needing to pay any legal fees upfront or assume any other type of financial risk.