A mass tort is a category of legal action where a large number of plaintiffs file claims against a single defendant or a small number of connected defendants. A mass tort can be brought from a defective product, contaminated food, medicine lacking appropriate label warnings, exposure to chemicals, pharmaceutical drugs or occupational hazards.
There are some fundamental parallels between mass torts and class action lawsuits. For example, both involve a large number of injured plaintiffs bringing a claim against a small number of defendants. Nevertheless, they are not the same thing. A class action lawsuit is a single legal claim that brings together the individual claims of many different plaintiffs. These plaintiffs must share common attributes so that they can be legally certified as a ‘class’. Class action plaintiffs will typically have similar injuries to each other, and those injuries will usually be sustained in a similar way. With mass torts, there are many different individual claims, but they are not necessarily directly tied together. A mass tort is an efficient way for multiple plaintiffs to have their voices heard against a common defendant.
Simple put, tort law strives to put the victim in the situation they were in before the tort. Compensation for injuiries include reviewing of past and future economic losses as well as financial satisfaction for a variety of nonfinancial items of damage, such as pain and suffering or loss of amenities.
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