We at the Goldberg Law Firm are dedicated to protecting the rights of people. Product manufacturers have an obligation to ensure all items they produce are reasonably safe. If a manufacturer, distributor or retailer sells a product that causes harm due to a flawed design, manufacturing defect or failure to warn, the responsible party may be held strictly liable for compensating victims for their injuries.
More often than not, when a product causes injury, the product defect poses a risk to hundreds or even thousands of people. The victims of a defective product may file claims to recover compensation, but these claims are not usually processed individually.
Instead, cases may be considered mass tort claims and consolidated in various ways. Understanding consumer class actions and mass torts is important for all victims of defective products as you determine if joining your claim with others is the best way to get justice.
Mass tort claims may be brought when multiple consumers are harmed by a similar wrong. Typically, the individual cases of many consumers are consolidated in one court or before one judge. Investigations related to the defective product are conducted just once by the group, rather than many times by each separate plaintiff. Mass torts make it possible for plaintiffs to get justice in a more efficient manner and prevent hundreds of courts across the country from being tied up hearing variations of the same case.
All class actions are a type of mass tort, but there are also other types of mass torts in which plaintiffs retain independent cases.
In a multi-district litigation (MDL) for example, each claimant retains his or her own claim, but all of the related claims are grouped under one judge. That judge can decide issues that are common to all of the claims, such as whether a certain piece of evidence should be admitted at trial. The decision will apply to all individual cases, and each case could move forward separately but more quickly because the common issues are decided.
Resources for investigations are pooled in mass torts, but plaintiffs may have suffered different levels of harm or have different complaints arising from the same defective product. Since each plaintiff continues to have control over his or her case, each can get the appropriate compensation for each specific situation.
Mass Tort Matters Handled by The Goldberg Law Firm Include:
