Explanation Of Class Actions And Mass Torts

When you suffer a serious injury from a defective medical product or medical device

, you can contact a local injury lawyer for help in filing a lawsuit against the company responsible for the bad product. In many cases, however, many different people are injured in a similar way by the same company or same product. When this occurs, mass litigation often results where multiple plaintiffs resolve their legal case at once. This saves both time and money. However, it is important to understand what this type of mass litigation entails and to make the right choice for you.

Class Action vs. Mass Tort

An injury lawyer can represent clients in two different types of legal actions when mass litigation is necessary. One option is a class action. The other option is a mass tort. People often confuse these two terms and think that they are one in the same, but in reality, there are some important differences to be aware of.

A class action is a case where multiple plaintiffs suffer a substantially similar wrong. For instance, if a group of people take a drug and all of the individual who are injured by the drug develop a similar type of tumor, then all of the plaintiffs suffered a substantially similar wrong.

A mass tort, on the other hand, occurs when people are harmed by the same product or the same defective device, but they experience significantly different kinds of harm. For instance, women who took Zoloft may have infants who experience birth defects. In some cases, a woman who took Zoloft might miscarry or might give birth to a child with a serious heart or lung defect. In other instances, the woman might have a child with a cleft palette but who is otherwise fine. The woman who lost her baby or whose infant was born with a serious heart condition obviously suffered a different level of loss than a woman whose baby was ultimately fine. As such, the women- who were wronged by substantially the same legal wrong- may be entitled to very different damages. This means that a mass tort lawsuit may be the right course of action.

Taking Legal Action in Product Liability Cases with the Help of an Injury Lawyer

Making the decision to join a class action or a mass tort is an important choice since if you become part of a group of plaintiffs, you can give up a great deal of autonomy and decision-making power in your case. An experienced injury lawyer will explain to you exactly what is involved in any type of mass litigation you are considering joining and will help you to make the most informed possible choice to maximize your recovery of compensation from a defective product.

If you decide to pursue an individual case against a drug company or manufacturer of a defective device, you will also need assistance from an experienced injury lawyer to help you to establish the evidence necessary to build a strong case and get the justice you deserve.

by: Jason M. Byrd

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