Mass Tort
Mass Tort Lawyers in Marina Del Rey, CA
Mass torts involve multiple injured victims harmed by the same product or event, meaning you need an experienced mass tort lawyer to handle your case. Contact the attorneys at Yuhl Carr LLP who have the knowledge and expertise to navigate the legal process and represent all those involved.
The attorneys at Yuhl Carr will collaborate with you to understand your specific needs and are committed to advocating for you. Mass tort claims can be complicated, so it’s critical to understand them, the applicable laws, and the overall process involved when filing.
About Mass Tort Actions
Mass torts occur when multiple people file lawsuits against a certain entity or more than one entity for the same negligent or reckless act that caused harm to the individual people. For example, 100 individuals who are allergic to peanuts bought a pack of potato chips, and the manufacturer used peanuts as an ingredient without listing them. These people sued the company for adding peanuts without listing them in the ingredients.
When a single mechanism or event results in many injured victims, their cases are often coordinated nationally within one or more judicial proceedings, state (Judicial Counsel Coordinated Proceedings or JCCP) and federal (Multi-District Litigation or MDL). These coordinated proceedings are known as Mass Tort actions.
Differences Between Mass Tort and Class Action
In the simplest of terms, mass tort and class action lawsuits differ in one fundamental way. In a mass tort lawsuit, each individual defendant files a separate lawsuit with their own representation initially, which is then coordinated in one court with appointed leadership. The value of your claim can often vary between plaintiffs. Yuhl Carr has been privileged to serve in leadership positions. In contrast, in a class action lawsuit, there is only a single class plaintiff for all claims, filed in one single lawsuit against all of the defendants. In Class Actions, the damages are typically the same for all plaintiffs. Yuhl Carr has been privileged to lead several such suits.
Mass Tort Claims
Mass tort claims are filed with the courts and notify the defendant about the pending lawsuit. The claim provides some basic information about the lawsuit, such as the type of injury or damages and the expectation of a financial settlement. Here's a look at more detailed information about mass tort claims:
The Four Major Kinds of Mass Torts
There are four major kinds of mass torts in which most claims fall. They are:
- Product liability
- Pharmaceuticals
- Environmental hazards
- Consumer fraud
When you need to file a mass tort, knowing the type of claim you need to file is vital. The attorneys at Yuhl Carr can provide you with the information you need to guide your mass tort case toward success.
Examples of Mass Tort Claims
There are several well-known mass tort claims. These include:
- Big Tabacco: Cigarette manufacturers knew for years that the chemicals in cigarettes were causing cancer. These lawsuits led to changes within that industry, such as warning labels on the packages.
- Talcum powder claims: Johnson & Johnson was hit with numerous lawsuits because the talcum powder in their products was causing ovarian cancer.
- Defective Hip and Knee implants – Decades of litigation against major companies like DePuy, Stryker, Zimmer, Wright Medical for defective design and manufacture.
- Roundup: Bayer continues to fight thousands of suits over it’s household pesticide, which is known to cause cancer, recently hit with a $20 million verdict in Georgia.
The end result of these mass tort claims included the companies paying millions of dollars, bringing serious issues to light. When an entity fails to uphold its duty of due diligence, it is essential to seek legal compensation and hold them accountable.
Understanding the Laws that Apply to Mass Tort Claims
There are specific laws that apply to mass tort claims. As expert attorneys, the team at Yuhl Carr is ready to navigate the minutiae of California and federal laws to hold responsible parties accountable for their harmful negligence in a mass tort claim. Some California and federal laws to be mindful of when seeking a mass tort claim include:
California Laws
In California, there are some requirements for mass tort claims. The California Tort Claims Act says that you must meet the requirements outlined before filing a claim when suing a public company or government.
- You must file an administrative claim within six months for specific damages, such as:
- Personal injury.
- Damage to personal property.
- Wrongful death.
- You must file within one year for specific damages, such as:
- Breach of contract.
- Damage to real property.
- Equitable estoppel.
- There are a few times when you can file a late claim, including.
- You were a minor during those time periods.
- You were physically or mentally incapacitated.
- Mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.
- The claimant has died.
- Fill out and file the claim form.
Federal Laws
The main federal law that governs federal mass tort against the government is the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). You have to file a claim, providing all your information, the incident that led to the prospective lawsuit, the amount of damage you want to receive, and more.
Essentially, the claim, if approved, gives you permission to sue the federal government for the actions of one of its employees.
The statutes regarding suits against private companies are controlled by each State’s individual state Statute of Limitations. In a California Mass Tort involving personal injury, for instance, a suit must be filed within 2 years of the injury or notice of recall of the device regardless of whether you file in Federal or State court.
Our Experience in Mass Tort Law in Marina Del Rey, CA
Over the years our partners have handled a wide variety of Mass Tort cases in the JCCP and MDL settings. Examples include: the Los Angeles Archdiocese Sexual Abuse cases, Amtrak and Metrolink Train Derailments, Silicone Breast Implant Litigation, defective Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants, Profemur Modular neck fractures, Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration Litigation, Singapore Air Crash, Starline Bus Litigation, San Francisco Ferry Crash, and defective pharmaceutical drugs such as Zantac, Pradaxa, Vioxx, Taxotere and DES.
More importantly, Yuhl Carr, LLP has served in a leadership position in several MDL’s. To be in leadership, running and funding a national litigation, requires expertise and reputation that a court will rely on when appointing firms to leadership. Many firms apply, few get selected, but Yuhl | Carr, LLP has earned recognition from the Federal and States as being qualified and capable to be appointed to important leadership positions. While large-scale settlement after years of litigation is the usual outcome in this field, we are also one of few firms with the skill, knowledge, and experience to opt out of a mass settlement and forge ahead with a client’s individual case when the circumstances warrant such extraordinary measures. However, most clients elect to opt into Master Settlement Agreements and our job is to ensure each client’s case is fully prepared to maximize their recovery under the settlement program criteria.