Understanding Mass Personal Injury Claims

There is a distinct difference between individual personal injury claims and mass personal injury litigations.  A personal injury claim involves only one or a couple of people involved in an accident.  Mass personal injury litigation may be filed for a catastrophic event involving a large corporation.  This could include a pharmaceutical product, a medical product, or a toxic substance that can be traced back to a certain company.  Billions of dollars have been paid out in mass litigation suits and lawyers have made millions from settlements.  The mass litigation wave hit a peak in the 1980's with suits against several large hotel chains, medical product manufacturers, and chemical companies.

A mass litigation can stem from a few small cases filed in the same district.  Common issues are noted and the groups of claimants band with lawyer's joining forces to make a stronger case.  These litigations can be filed on one company or several.    There are several reasons mass litigation reached a peak in the 80's.  Mass marketing brought more attention to the exposure of products or substances that were unsafe to individuals.  There was a weakness in the approval of the Federal Drug Administration and many medical devices went on the market without the approval of the FDA.

Mass media contributed to the increase in lawsuits.  Information is readily available to consumers and they can receive it through television, print media, and the Internet.  Sometimes media suggests a link between defective products or substance and lawyers actively look for claimants.  Lawyers advertise in the media their availability and expertise in handling certain lawsuits.  Changes in the law made it advisable to settle large numbers of lawsuits together because of the backlog of cases. 

Are mass litigation claims easy to settle?  Do claimants receive compensation for their claims of injuries?  Mass injury claims may be hard to settle because of many legal and factual issues.  Before filing large injury litigation, the claimants and lawyers must agree the value of the claim is enough to warrant the time and money involved in such suits.  There are risks for taking on such cases and the stakes are high.  Sometimes links between the injuries and the product are hard to prove, and the manufacturers have their own large staff of legal advisers to help them with the claim. 

An example of mass litigation lawsuits involves asbestos workers and any future injuries caused by their exposure to the product.  It may take several years for the symptoms of asbestos related injury to show up and even longer for it to cause serious effects.  Many claimants involved in an asbestos lawsuit may not show any signs of injury but the statute of limitations requires then filing before they show serious symptoms.  Claimants who do not file until they experience symptoms may find little or no money left from the original settlement amount.  It is also difficult for courts to decide if future claims mean larger settlement amounts. 

There are proposals to streamline mass personal injury litigation.  Until that time, each claimant will need to decide if his or her injury should be included in any mass injury lawsuit.