What Is A Mass Tort?
A mass tort is a wrongdoing that affects multiple victims by the same company, organization, or product and combines the claims into a single lawsuit. This process expedites the time to verdict and can end in compensation for all plaintiffs who joined the suit. If you think you may be part of an ongoing mass tort lawsuit, contact a Las Vegas injury attorney from J. Cogburn Law for a free no-obligation consultation today. A tort is a civil wrongdoing a person or company commits that results in harm to another.
What Is The Difference Between Mass Tort and Class Action?
A mass tort includes many plaintiffs, but within the case, each person remains distinct with regard to the level of injury and amount of damages. While often confused, mass torts differ from class-action lawsuits. In a mass tort, each individual plaintiff is treated as an individual. In class actions, all members are treated as one plaintiff, rather than as separate individuals. Mass torts often have fewer plaintiffs, while class actions may have hundreds or thousands of individuals participating, and recovery in mass tort actions is often much higher than in a class-action suit.
Why Join A Mass Tort Lawsuit In Las Vegas?
If you’ve become a victim of faulty consumer products, dangerous drugs, or toxic exposure, you likely qualify to join a mass tort. A current example of a mass tort is the case of the Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival where 500 were injured, and 59 innocent people died.
Instead of hundreds of plaintiffs bringing claims against the same defendant for the same issue, they can simply join a mass tort. This brings each claim into one centralized cased that will occur in one courtroom, under a single judge. There are a few of the elements the Nevada courts will consider when giving permission for a mass tort action. A mass tort attorney in Las Vegas can help you understand whether you’re eligible to join or file a mass tort. If the tort is successful, you could receive compensation for your medical bills, pain and suffering, and other related damages.
What Do I Need To File a Mass Tort?
To file a mass tort, certain factors must be present. These include:
- A group of persons can share a common set of damages
- One defendant or a small group of defendants is responsible for the damages to the individuals filing the mass tort
- Causation can be established and is supported by compelling evidence
When filing a mass tort, it is a usual practice for a corporate defendant to have teams of defense attorneys. These corporate defense lawyers engage in various strategies to defend against the claim, including challenging the case as legitimate, and presenting massive amounts of scientific evidence to support the defense. It is imperative that your Las Vegas mass tort attorney is experienced, has the resources needed, and has achieved success in these difficult cases; this is not the time to hire a rookie lawyer.
What Are The Different Types of Mass Torts?
A mass tort can be filed in several different types of injury cases. These include:
- Defective drugs: A drug has been found to cause dangerous side effects and has led to many dangerous or deadly adverse reactions. In cases in which it can be established that the manufacturer was aware of the side effects and chose to release the drug onto the market without warning of these side effects may make it possible to hold the manufacturer liable.
- Dangerous or faulty medical devices: Many medical devices are eventually recalled by the FDA, either the entire device or certain lots due to a manufacturing error. Famous recalls include faulty hip implants, such as certain DePuy hip implants, certain types of surgical mesh, and many others that were later found to pose a serious risk to patients.
- Workplace cases: When employees band together to file a claim against an employer for various violations of state and federal employment law, such as harassment, safety violations, or working without fair and legal compensation.
- Medical malpractice: If a specific hospital, medical center, or doctor has many patients who suffered damages, a mass tort can be filed to hold that defendant accountable for poor medical practices or other acts of negligence.
- Transportation accidents: When many people have been injured in a common event, such as a train, bus, or plane accident, a mass tort can be filed against the parties who are responsible for what occurred.
- Toxic exposure: If a company has engaged in unsafe practices by dumping toxic substances or similar acts, with many people suffering damages such as developing cancers, or leading to birth defects, a mass tort can be filed against the responsible parties.
What Compensation Can I Get In a Mass Tort?
As we mentioned above, unlike class actions, mass torts actually allow you to recover compensation for your damages. The circumstances of your situation will determine which damages you are entitled to recover. However, many victims in mass tort claims get compensation for damages caused by a defective product, toxic exposure, or dangerous drug.
The most common damages in mass torts include:
- All medical expenses, including future ones
- Lost income, current, and future
- Lost earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
If you have been injured by a defective drug or medical device or you’ve been exposed to a toxic substance, reach to one of our lawyers at J. Cogburn Law and learn how we can help you get a fair settlement.
How Do We Hold These Corporations Responsible?
Sometimes these cases can be very complex given their scope. However, our mass tort lawyers are greatly experienced in fighting against big corporations and coming up with unique strategies for the different types of injuries with the same causes.
These manufacturers should be aware of the damage their negligence has caused every victim. That is what mass torts do, as well as giving the victims the chance to recover from every loss.
What Can I Do To Help My Case?
Besides hiring a personal injury attorney, you can increase your chances for success by doing the following:
- Follow every medical advice and treatment your doctor gives you
- Gather all documents that can support your cases like medical test results, hospital bills, and prescriptions
- Take photographs of all of your injuries
- Keep a journal where you detail your injury and the recovery process
- Gather contact information for any witnesses that might have seen what happened
Contact A Las Vegas Mass Tort Attorney
At J. Cogburn Law Offices, each of our Las Vegas accident attorneys has vast experience in mass tort litigation and the complex activity of organizing and preparing a case for trial. Contact our Las Vegas mass tort lawyers to get a free case consultation today.