When a personal injury suit occurs at a large scale through a shared cause, many people turn to a lawyer to sue the offending party. The claimants may not know that their injury is a shared experience on a larger scale. As the number of claimants grows in their suit for the same cause, it often makes more sense to sue as a large group. The process of multiple people suing the same party is referred to as a mass tort.
Singularly defined, a “tort” is a civil issue that has caused harm, be it financially or physically, to an individual. On the other hand, a “mass tort” is simply the same civil wrong, but on a larger scale, grouping together the concerns and cases of many into one streamlined suit. A mass tort often centers on a product or event. For example, the vast majority of mass tort cases can usually be split into two categories:
Medical / Pharmaceutical Product Liability
Medical / pharmaceutical product liability claims can involve injuries or deaths caused by medical hardware devices and even prescribed medications.
Consumer Product Liability
Consumer product liability is another form of common mass torts that involved injuries or deaths caused by consumer products, such as household products, baby products, electronics, vehicles, and more.
The Process
A mass tort lawsuit is similar to a class action lawsuit in that it involves a large party, but it differs in that each plaintiff has an individual claim. In order to file a mass tort, a court would have to determine whether the claims can amount to a mass tort. The court takes into consideration various factors, such as the number of plaintiffs involved, their location and proximity to other plaintiffs, how similar the injuries sustained by the plaintiffs are, and whether or not these injuries or claims can be attributed to a common product or incident.
Mistakes do happen from time to time in the manufacturing of a product. But when these mistakes lead to injuries or death, they are unacceptable. If you or a loved one has been injured by a faulty or defective product, contact the product liability lawyers at The Law Offices of Andres, Berger & Tran today for your consultation. Call 856.437.4080 today or contact online.
