What is Mass Tort Litigation?

Suffering personal injury as a result of another’s negligence is always a traumatic experience. The disruption to your life, as well as the pain and suffering you endure, can cause a myriad of negative emotions and even consequences. However, suffering personal injury after placing your trust in a company can make you feel worse, because not only are you injured, but the confidence you placed in a company or product was shattered, potentially destroying any future trust you give.

Mass tort litigation is a way for an individual to try to recoup compensation for damages they incurred by using a product from a company or suffering injury as a result of the actions of a business. Mass tort cases involve multiple individuals who have all suffered injury from the same incidence.

This type of case differs from a class action lawsuit in that each injured plaintiff is treated as an individual in the case, whereas in a class action case every injured plaintiff is part of the same group. The distinction here is that if one individual in a mass tort case doesn’t have the proper requirements for the case, then that person will more than likely not be successful while not affecting the outcome of the other plaintiffs.

Mass tort cases generally involve corporations that provide goods and services to the public, but they may also involve companies that through negligence in their practices cause harm to the public. The most general forms of mass tort cases include:

• Consumer product claims: These cases generally involve dangerous or defective products that cause injury to those who purchase them. Examples of this may include defective children’s toys, defective car parts, and harmful foods placed on the market.
• Pharmaceutical claims: Cases involving medications or medical devices that are dangerous are common mass tort claims. Often in these cases, plaintiffs have suffered severe personal injury, as well as fatal injury, from taking or using prescriptions or a medical device to help with a medical condition or illness. Some examples of recent mass tort claims in this area include those against Nexium, Prilosec OTC, Invokana, and IVC filters.
• Environmental claims: This type of mass tort case can be brought against a company that causes harm to the environment that in turn causes injury to the public. This can happen if a corporation has done damage to the environment on land or in a body of water. An example of this type of case would be an oil spill that damages land or water by contaminating water supplies, hurts sources of food, discourages tourism, or directly injures people.

At Portner & Shure, we believe that everyone has a right to justice and compensation if they’ve been injured due to another’s negligence. This is especially true in mass tort cases in which you’ve placed your trust in a company and suffered negative consequences as a result. At our offices, we employ an experienced legal team which includes paralegals who are fluent in Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese.

If you’ve been injured or suffered loss because of a defective product, prescription, or other action caused by a corporation, please contact us today to see if you may have the basis for a mass tort case with other individuals. You can reach us at (410) 995-1515 for a free initial consultation. We work on a contingency basis, which means that we don’t get paid unless your case is successful.