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It is a stressful experience when you or a family member is harmed by the effects of a dangerous drug or a failed medical device. Even if you haven’t, you might have probably heard about an incident where multiple were injured, harmed, or even died due to the actions, negligence, or the effect of an unsafe product manufactured by an organization. When business organizations fail to act responsibly or do not adhere to health and safety norms, the general consumers and innocent people suffer the consequences.
This is when mass tort lawsuits are brought against such organizations or manufacturers whose negligence, action, or unsafe products caused injuries or death of multiple people. Mass tort cases generally involve multiple plaintiffs who have suffered the consequences of widespread wrongdoing against one or more defendants. If you do not know what mass torts are all about, here are the most commonly asked questions and the simplest answers to the questions.
A mass tort lawsuit involves several plaintiffs who have been caused harm due to a defective drug or faulty device produced by a manufacturer. In addition, there can be one or more defendants against whom the lawsuit is filed by the people who have been injured or caused harm or the families of any deceased person. Mass torts are also referred to as MDLs, which stands for Multi-District Litigation. This implies that it is a kind of litigation that involves multiple cases from several districts all across the nation which have been consolidated into one action under one judge.
Mass tort lawsuits are quite similar to “class action” lawsuits. Although, there are specific differences between them. Class action lawsuits might not always be about injury claims and cover a single complaint with common characteristics against one or more defendants. Along with that, for a mass tort action, each plaintiff has an individual claim about the different kinds and extents of damages they have suffered. In a class-action lawsuit, the plaintiffs are typically not considered individually, and there is only one trial.
The most common types of mass tort claims can be classified under three main categories. They are:
Mass tort claims involve different complaints against the same defendant or more than one defendant. It involves injuries from medical products and dangerous drugs. In a mass tort case, the plaintiffs file individual lawsuits against the defendant. After that, they are grouped for pretrial proceedings, and the case may be tried later in their original state jurisdiction.
Mass torts claim based on the fact that all prescription drug and medical device manufacturers are legally obligated and responsible to ensure that the products they manufacture are safe and must. To ensure this, they need to follow the guidelines stated below:
If an organization violates these regulations or fails to satisfy these requirements, they are held liable to the people harmed by their products/drugs.
Mass tort lawsuits involve dangerous drugs and medical devices. Such lawsuits quite naturally involve complex medical and legal details and are pretty expensive to pursue. Mass tort cases require sophisticated knowledge in this area of law and extraordinary resources to pursue such cases. Any mass tort attorney handling such a case must have mastery in such varied and complex subject matter. They must be specialists in the field with knowledge about the theories of liability and damages. They will also have to invest a considerable amount of time necessary for reviewing and processing numerous case documents. They must also be very patient and resilient with the ability and tenacity to work with several witnesses and experts.
If you have suffered an injury or have been caused harm, or even if you are experiencing abnormal side effects by using a medical device, you must consult with an expert law firm that specializes in the field and can help you make a claim. Companies are obligated to ensure the maximum safety of the medical product they sell. When a company cannot or does not fulfill this obligation, and their product has caused harm to one or more people, they can be sued.
If you think you might have a claim, contact our experts right away!
To begin with, the different complications from dangerous drugs can vary in terms of their severity. It can therefore be complicated to determine whether a tort claim is feasible or not. Under such a scenario where you have experienced complications due to a dangerous drug, you need to consult with our experts to assess the potential case fairly and accurately. We have handled several cases involving dangerous drugs and medical devices and offer the most appropriate legal counsel and legal assistance for you to make a tort claim.
Mass tort claims across the US work similarly. The process of making a claim involves a few key steps, which are:
Review records: The statements of the claimants and their medical records are reviewed to identify the device or drug and the injuries or harm they have caused.
Injury consistency: Expert litigators will then check for the similarity of injuries amongst the people who have been harmed by drugs or medical devices. This is treated as evidence for the claim and helps categorize the cases to identify any shared characteristics.
Federal court filing: Individual cases are consolidated to quicken the processing and information gathering process.
Bellwether trials: First, a small group of lawsuits that are from a larger group of similar cases are tried in a court of law first. The results will also assist in determining the potential outcomes of all or most future cases.
Settlement: In this part, the plaintiffs and defendants negotiate to settle the claims. The proposed agreements from the defendants are presented to claimants to decide if they accept them or if the case will proceed to a trial.
According to federal and state law, the victims of dangerous drugs have the right to recover financial damages for different categories of losses they have suffered. These are:
Mass tort claims generally involve multiple plaintiffs. These claims, therefore, take longer than the usual personal injury cases. It may even take years for such cases to come to a resolution.
Mass tort cases are filed to expedite the lawsuit process. However, lawsuits like these cost a massive amount of money and may continue for several years. A mass tort lawsuit can help plaintiffs overcome such time and financial obstacles by moving similar cases against a corporation to a single court for litigation.
Resources:
https://www.bermansimmons.com/blog/understanding-mass-tort-cases-faqs/
