Hamilton Mass Torts Lawyer

Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation

It is important to understand how the state and federal courts work when handling legal issues involving mass torts.

Within the federal system, this process is begun by filing a motion before the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation. This panel is a faction of federal judges who gather every few months to evaluate these requests. These judges have the authority to order every individual case filed within the federal system and transferred to and consolidated before a single federal judge.

The Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation, in addition to state courts that are weighing whether or not mass tort action is appropriate, has to give due consideration to several different issues, such as:

• Are there a substantial number of claims arising from a single issue or product?
• Does a high degree of commonality exist among the actors and issues?
• Is there significant value interdependence between the individual cases?
• Does a geographical disparity exist between the individual parties?
• Is there a high degree of commonality in the damages and/or injuries among the claimants?
• Is this jurisdiction reasonable and convenient to attorneys, witnesses, and plaintiffs?
• Would coordinated management and discovery be advantageous?
• Does centralization bring about the effective utilization of judicial personnel, facilities, and resources?
• Are there corresponding matters pending in other state or federal courts that demand coordination by a single judge?
• Is there a possibility that this centralization could unreasonably hinder progress, raise expenses, or bias the outcome?

After a mass tort classification has been confirmed, the judge that has been chosen usually holds a hearing to designate a schedule for specific issues, like calendaring, pretrial procedures, forms, discovery issues, and other important details. Complex and substantial discovery plays a huge part in all mass tort cases.

Discovery is the method by which relevant testimony, data, and documents from the defendants and other parties are obtained. After individual trials start, lawyers for all of the claimants draw from this shared body of information to establish the testimony and evidence needed to win the case.

Over the years, we have put our legal experience to work representing the best interests of clients in Hamilton and across the entire state of Alabama. Our Alabama mass tort litigation attorneys have an excellent track record of significant recoveries.

Our law offices are currently representing thousands of victims pursuing mass tort suits against some of the largest businesses in the world. Many of these lawsuits involve a dangerous or defective drug, medical device, or consumer product.

Unique Characteristics of Mass Tort Cases

Mass tort cases have several elements that are unique to them, including:

• A large number of claims that are all derived from a single event or product: For instance, multiple patients sustained injuries caused by the same faulty medical device, or several neighboring families were made sick by the same toxic spill.
• All claims have legal and factual issues in common: The cases share similar or identical issues of fact and law affiliated with a single disaster, product, event, or action.
• The plaintiffs have a shared goal: The aggregate value of every claim will rise and fall with the results of each individual case or other critical development.
• The cases are often consolidated in the very beginning: In an attempt to promote consistency and foster judicial economy, a single judge will decide the preliminary issues of discovery and law.
• Each plaintiff has their own, individual case: Dissimilar to a class action, each plaintiff maintains control over all decisions pertaining to their case. Should their case be tried by a jury, it is almost always tried independently of the other mass torts.

By consolidating these cases for preliminary pre-trial matters, and then trying them one by one, our court system strives to balance the interests of victims who are entitled to have their claims addressed individually against the need for timely and cost-efficient proceedings.

In doing so, both judges and attorneys handling mass torts borrow a few concepts from class action cases, while maintaining each victim’s individual case.

Our mass tort litigation lawyers highlight a few important differences between mass tort actions and class action claims, namely:

• In class actions, a single representative suit is filed by one or more claimants on behalf of numerous other claimants who are in similar or identical circumstances.
• There is only one trial on behalf of the class, and when a verdict or settlement is reached, all members of the class split the proceeds, usually on an equal basis.

In order to receive class certification, it is necessary to demonstrate that all members of the class members have sustained injuries in the same or similar fashion.

This is what makes class action suits generally inappropriate for claimants who have endured personal injuries. Class actions are most often used to recoup economic losses under consumer fraud laws.