Mass Torts vs. Class Actions: A Tale of Two Strategies
Tips and Strategies for Successful Mass Tort Management
NGE On Demand: Insurance Issues in Bankruptcy with Jason Frye
IP|Trend: Discovering Source Code
In recent years, numerous businesses have successfully enforced broad arbitration clauses, particularly those embedded in terms and conditions of online service agreements. We previously discussed a noteworthy example from a...more
Mass tort cases present unique challenges for both plaintiff’s and defense counsel. Unlike a class-action case, where a representative plaintiff stands in for the other members of the class, each plaintiff in a mass tort case...more
Harris Beach Murtha attorneys Abbie Fuchs, Dan Strecker, and Alessandra Ash review and analyze key judicial holdings and legal developments in federal court and tort hot spots across the country that have affected the...more
In mass tort litigation, selecting the right data management platform is a critical decision. It ensures efficiency and accuracy in handling and analyzing vast amounts of data – sometimes millions of documents – enabling...more
On Jan. 6, a Pittsburgh jury concluded a month-and-a-half long trial involving a suit asserting that decedent Michaeleen Lee developed mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos-containing talcum powder products made by Johnson &...more
If you have a claim against a drug company, automaker or other product manufacturer, asserting your legal rights may involve filing a mass tort claim. In this situation, you may not be the only one who is entitled to...more
Taking a closer look at the JAMS Mass Arbitration Procedures and Guidelines - What are mass arbitrations, and why in recent years have there been so many of them? The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear in a series of...more
Mass torts are on the rise in Ontario, thanks to certification challenges, carriage fights and the influence of plaintiffs’ counsel. But not all provinces are experiencing the same trend. In this episode of our podcast,...more
As widely reported, including in previous issues of the Environmental Law Monitor, the environmental and financial impacts of wildfires in recent years have been significant. In the aftermath of these events, an...more
The question of how to resolve mass torts is one that occupies the minds of all modern commercial litigators. Whether those mass torts involve personal injury or the mis-selling of financial products, resolution is a subject...more
Hosted by American Conference Institute, the 28th Annual Conference on Drug & Medical Device Litigation returns for another exciting year with curated programming and networking opportunities with 400+ industry...more
From the now decades old asbestos litigation to pharmaceuticals and product liability cases to the newly developing PFAS or “forever chemical” lawsuits, mass tort litigation has increasingly become the tool of choice by which...more
Corporations must innovate and set themselves apart from their competition to achieve long-term success, but they cannot act with reckless abandon in doing so. Rather, they must strategically plan their moves to proactively...more
Given the number of class actions and other representative matters filed across the country, a phenomenon known as the reverse auction has increasingly evolved over the past decade, which affects both the process by which...more
A third-party injunction in a chapter 11 bankruptcy is generally used to protect a non-bankrupt entity from liability that is shared with, or derivative of, a bankrupt entity. Third-party injunctions are difficult to obtain...more
The national asbestos litigation machine is running at full speed even though the system is more than five decades old. The machine is national in scope, but it only operates in relatively few state and county jurisdictions....more
The legal industry has been undergoing major changes over recent years. Both corporations and law firms are paying more attention to the macrotrends surfacing across the industry and taking action to align with competitors...more
While trials and in person court conferences are starting to trickle in, some jurisdictions such as New York still managed to hold its position as a judicial hellhole in 2021. According to American Tort Reform Foundation...more
Mass tort litigation is unlike many other types of litigation – the cases are large, complex, and fast moving, and if you’re not organized and prepared early on, it can be hard to regain control. In this podcast, Carlton...more
The subject of six lawsuits filed in three states, paraquat is widely used in the agricultural industry and, sadly, often causes illnesses to those least able to care for themselves: workers. Workers on farms and ranches...more
The first part of this series discussed the best practices for intake and management of a large group of mass tort claimants. Once the intake process is complete, a claimant’s case must be built. Tasks such as completing the...more
What’s Going On? The world turned upside down in 2020: fires, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, locust swarms, escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, impeachment proceedings, the horrific death of Kobe...more
A "virtual law team" is a collaborative and often technology-based team of lawyers, each selected for specific tasks, to defend a single client’s litigation in the most efficient way. As part of a series about virtual law...more
In our previous blog post about multidistrict litigation (MDL), we discussed the problem of identifying meritless claims and how social media evidence can help counsel identify those claims. But what happens next? After the...more
Class actions bring more complexity to litigating and settling cases, and it can increase substantially when the claims arise from multiple state consumer protection laws. In these cases, determining the applicable law(s) to...more