Mass Torts Law in Texas
What is a Mass Tort in Texas?
A mass tort is a legal action filed against a defendant(s )for their negligent actions or inaction that causes injuries to multiple people. It is a lawsuit that allows a group of plaintiffs to combine their tort cases against the defendant. In Texas, mass tort cases are often similar to typical negligence actions because most mass tort cases emanate from wrongdoing or failure to meet the expected duty of care. For example, if a pharmaceutical company produces a medication with significant adverse effects, with no warning, everyone harmed by that drug may join a mass tort lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company to receive compensation for their injuries.
The most prevalent forms of mass tort cases in Texas are those that involve prescription medications, medical equipment, and exposure to toxic substances such as asbestos. Mass torts are filed to force companies or other organizations to take responsibility for their actions. As a result, they allow affected parties to seek justice and compensation for their suffering and losses.
Individual lawsuits are often the starting point for mass tort actions. However, judges may combine the lawsuits into a mass tort action to expedite the litigation process and save the legal system's resources. Those cases are considered by a single judge in a single court. Hence, viable mass tort actions include several plaintiffs that suffered injuries or losses due to the same defendant’s negligent act. Still, each plaintiff remains a distinct party to the case, with all the rights that entail. These individuals retain their right to choose counsel of their choice but must work within the constraints of having several plaintiffs in the same litigation.
What is the Difference Between a Tort and Mass Tort?
The most significant difference between a tort claim and a mass tort claim in Texas is the number of parties involved. A tort claim is an individual lawsuit that one person can file if they have been hurt in some manner, whether physically, financially, or emotionally. On the other hand, a mass tort action occurs when multiple plaintiffs sue one or more firms simultaneously. They may involve one or more defendants, and plaintiffs may claim compensation for similar bodily or financial harm suffered by all due to the same occurrences.
What is Toxic Tort?
A toxic tort claim is a subtype of a personal injury case in which the plaintiff claims that their injury was caused by exposure to a hazardous material or chemical. Any individual that has been injured or exposed to toxic chemicals via someone's carelessness has the legal right to be reinstated to the position they were in before their loss or injury, generally by monetary compensation or some other type of justice.
The burden of proof required in a toxic tort lawsuit may vary depending on the case. Still, to have a viable claim, the plaintiff must establish the following to win their lawsuit:
- The substance they were exposed to was toxic or hazardous
- The defendant caused or allowed the exposure
- The toxic substance caused the plaintiff's injuries and losses.
Toxic tort lawsuits are common in Texas due to the prevalence of petroleum refining and chemical product manufacturing in the state. Toxic tort cases may stem from
- Occupational exposure: Employees exposed to harmful substances at high levels for a short period or low levels for an extended period may be able to submit a toxic tort claim.
- Pharmaceutical medicines: Sometimes pharmaceutical medications have unintended side effects, or manufacturers mislead clients about the potential side effects of their products. If people get injured from using these drugs, a toxic tort suit may be valid to claim compensation.
- Exposure at home: A toxic tort action may be appropriate when inhabitants of a house inhale or absorb compounds that are hazardous to human health.
- Consumer products: A toxic tort action may also arise when customers use defective products that cause them injuries. A product is considered defective under Texas law if a fault in its manufacture, design, or labeling causes physical harm or death.
Some of the toxic substances that have been shown to cause significant injury to people are lead-based paint, asbestos, pesticides, toxic landfill waste, industrial chemicals such as benzene and PCBs, etc. These substances can cause serious diseases such as cancer, heart problems, congenital disabilities, respiratory issues, and even death. It is worth noting that toxic torts can lead to mass tort or class-action lawsuits due to the large number of people who they might harm and the complexity of the proceedings. This is done to pool litigation costs and promptly bring cases to an end.
How Do I Participate in a Mass Tort Lawsuit?
When a person needs to join a mass tort action, they can speak with an unaffiliated mass lawyer who can serve as a point of reference, or they can communicate with attorneys who are already involved in the case. During this consultation, the mass tort attorney will review the plaintiff's medical records and determine whether they meet the criteria for joining the lawsuit. Suppose the circumstances surrounding their injury do not have a direct link or tie to one another. In that case, the individual may need to file a separate case against the business or individual.
Being an active participant in a mass tort action allows plaintiffs to pool their resources and communicate discoveries, investigations, and ideas with the other plaintiffs about how to mount a more effective legal challenge. Furthermore, mass tort cases bring attention to negligent acts, which can serve as a deterrent for future negligent behavior or prevent other firms from making similar mistakes.
What is a Mass Tort Lead Generation?
Mass tort lead generation refers to strategies for increasing the number of plaintiffs in a lawsuit. Mass tort cases require multiple plaintiffs to pursue a claim, and when the number of plaintiffs in a case increases, so do the potential litigation costs for the defense, as well as the possibility of larger verdicts.
How Do You Make a Mass Tort Case?
To file a mass tort case, both the individual and their mass tort litigation lawyer must have assessed their case and how it connects to the claims of other joint plaintiffs. Each stage of filing and settling the litigation contributes significantly to the possibility of successfully making the case. Consequently, the main stages of a mass tort lawsuit include:
Records review: In the initial stage of filing a mass tort claim, a mass tort lawyer will sift over numerous facts to determine whether or not they have valid claims. They examine the allegations of injuries and plaintiffs' statements, as well as years of medical history, to see whether the chronology of the symptoms corresponds to the claims they have made or whether they had a pre-existing condition.
Determine injury uniformity: To initiate a mass tort lawsuit on their behalf, a mass tort attorney must first identify a group of persons who claim to suffer symptoms linked to a particular drug or product. Individuals who are exceptions in the buildup case and display a distinct pattern will not be compensated under the mass tort action.
Filing lawsuits: State courts are the sole forums for addressing mass tort lawsuits. Even if the plaintiffs live in different parts of the state, filing the action simultaneously is in everyone's best interests. The court prefers to treat these issues together to save time and expedite the process.
Bellwether trials: Bellwether trials are trials that take place before mass tort litigation and feature many claims filed against the same firm. During this trial, a small number of people are used as test cases to offer insight into the prospective results of future litigation. They often choose the most serious cases, such as those involving deceased victims or those who claim to have incurred considerable losses due to using defective tools or treatments.
Bellwether trials serve as a form of practice ground for the attorneys. The trials help them predict the likely outcomes of the cases. The other cases will not proceed to the trial stage if the test cases fail during the trials. This implies that attorneys specializing in mass tort claims must take the issues before the courts very seriously.
Settlement: The final stage of filing a mass tort complaint is settlement negotiations. Most of these cases are settled amicably, although the process might take months or even years. The litigation is time-consuming and expensive, and the result may always be appealed. As such, the mass tort attorneys may advise on settling these cases out of court.
Do I Need a Lawyer for a Mass Tort Case?
Claimants in mass tort lawsuits rely on mass attorneys for their skills and expertise to present clear evidence and convincing case before the court. A mass tort lawyer represents clients in court procedures involving several clients who have been harmed due to a third party's negligent conduct.
Dealing with a compensation claim in a mass tort litigation case alone may be difficult, especially following a tragic loss or while suffering an illness or injury. Getting professional legal representation gives the claimant the confidence that their case is in good hands. It also enables the mass tort attorney to assess their client's situation and how best to get them the compensation they deserve.
Mass tort litigation is more difficult to practice than many other personal injury claims. A knowledgeable mass tort attorney will be able to guide plaintiffs through the processes required to file and substantiate their claims. Furthermore, individuals make claims in court against massive corporate legal teams in mass tort cases. A mass tort attorney will effectively argue for them and safeguard their interests. Mass tort litigation may be tricky, but having an attorney is extremely valuable for holding big corporations accountable for their actions.
Do Mass Tort Cases Require Extensive Legal Research?
Mass tort cases require extensive legal research and paperwork because of the large number of parties involved. An attorney would need to review years of medical data for multiple injured consumers and independent studies assessing the product to demonstrate cause, manufacturer knowledge or oversight, and the extent of harm to file a valid claim.
Do Mass Tort Cases Involve Complex Facts?
In general, mass tort cases involve complicated facts and legal concerns. Such complexities are often associated with determining the causal relationship between a party's injury and the defendant's negligent conduct. While some cases are straightforward and causality is obvious, others may necessitate extensive investigation and expert witnesses to establish causality.
How are Mass Torts Resolved?
Although a mass tort action might take years to resolve, it usually results in a financial settlement for all those who were injured, especially after a few jury trials have been completed to help all parties evaluate the worth of the claims. Still, each plaintiff has the legal right to reject a settlement offer.
Settlements in mass tort cases are structured such that each individual's case facts, such as exposure, causation, and injuries, are examined on their own merits. As a result, after hearing the proposed settlement terms, each participant is free to make their own decision. If they cannot reach a collective settlement, the mass tort claimants may then have their individual claims heard by a jury or settled separately.
Can an Injured Party Also Be Represented During Negotiations?
Every aggrieved person in a mass tort action should have an attorney represent them. It is important to note that, even if a mass tort action includes several plaintiffs, each case is still treated as a unique entity, and the specifics of each case determine settlement. As a result, all injured parties deserve adequate representation to protect their rights and ensure fair compensation.
What is a Class Action?
A class-action lawsuit is a type of litigation in which one of the parties is a group of persons collectively represented by a member or members of that group. It is a type of legal action that one person or a small group can bring on behalf of a larger group of persons who have all suffered the same harm or an injury significantly similar to it. This legal action may be brought against a single defendant or multiple defendants who are accused of causing extensive harm.
A class action is filed by a class representative on behalf of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of aggrieved individuals, known as the class. The word "class" refers to the whole population that has been similarly harmed due to the defendant's alleged activities. The class representatives advocate for the interests of all class members in order to obtain an adequate remedy and recover damages for the class members. The representative must fairly and accurately represent the members of the class.
Any harmful activity has the potential to give rise to a class-action lawsuit. However, the following factors are more likely to result in class actions than any other:
- Dangerous drugs or medical devices
- Defective vehicles and auto parts
- Environmental regulation violations
- Wage, hour, and overtime violations
- Sexual harassment and other unlawful employment practices
- Civil rights violations
- Predatory lending practices
- Unlawful debt collection practices
- Consumer and securities fraud, etc.
Filing a Class-Action Lawsuit in Texas
A class-action lawsuit differs from an individual legal claim. Bringing a class action requires following a specific procedure within the legal system. Class actions can be initiated in line with Texas law, in a court within the state, or in a court within the federal system. Most class actions filed in federal court are governed by Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This is because most classes have participants from around the country. Rule 23 specifies the specific conditions for any class action. According to the rule, a class action is viable when:
- Individual lawsuits would be impractical due to the large size of the class.
- The entire class has a common knowledge of the legal issues in the case.
- The class representatives represent the class, and the class shares the claims and defenses of the representatives.
- Representatives of the class are capable of acting in the best interests of the entire group.
The same rules generally apply while filing class-action lawsuits within the state legal system. Rule 42 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure governs class action lawsuits in Texas.
After filing a class-action lawsuit, the next step is to ask a judge to certify the class. Certification indicates that the court has determined that a class action is an appropriate way to resolve the numerous claims.
The class representatives and their counsel are responsible for establishing to the judge that the affected people's situations have the same or very similar case facts. Furthermore, the class representative must show that individual class members would be unable to bring their own individual claims by pointing out that it would be inefficient for the courts to address those cases individually because the damages sustained by class members may not be substantial enough in terms of compensation to justify the expense of individual action.
If the judge certifies the class, the next step is class notification. Here, everyone who will be included in the scope of the class-action lawsuit must be informed and given the option of participating or otherwise. Letters and emails are adequate notification media. However, to reach a bigger audience, they might also use advertising aired on radio or television.
Following class certification and notice, a class action case proceeds like any other litigation until a settlement or decision is achieved. Once the court has determined how the matter should be settled, the class action lawyers representing the class representative must develop a strategy to ensure that class members receive their fair share of the settlement.
There are many benefits of participating in a class-action lawsuit. One significant advantage is that the case is more cost-effective and efficient than if each individual member filed separately. Furthermore, class action lawsuits seek justice for those who have been victimized. Large-scale enhancements to items or whole organizations eventually benefit society.
Another advantage of a class action is that the class only needs to demonstrate their harm and the defendant's wrongdoing once. Instead of each injured individual bearing the burden of proof in court, the burden is shared by the class representative and the class action counsel. This is also far more efficient for the court system, which would otherwise be overburdened by dozens, hundreds, or thousands of similar cases.
How Do Class Actions Differ from Mass Tort Cases?
The primary contrast between these two forms of legal proceedings is the level of control a plaintiff has over their case. Mass torts are more similar to conventional injury claims, in which each plaintiff is given individual consideration throughout the judicial process. Despite the notion that plaintiffs in a mass tort are part of a group, each person's case is treated individually, and each person's recovery may differ depending on the circumstances of their case.
In contrast, class actions are frequently more elaborate and involve a more significant number of plaintiffs. One of the trade-offs in this sort of litigation is that individual plaintiffs have relatively little influence on the overall path of the case. In a class action, just one plaintiff (class representative) acts on behalf of the whole group, and everyone shares in the same recovery, whether monetary or otherwise.
Also, mass tort cases in Texas typically involve a heterogeneous group of persons from the same geographical location. As a result, the number of plaintiffs is sometimes significantly lower than the number of plaintiffs in a class-action suit. On the other hand, class action lawsuits often involve a heterogeneous group of persons across a larger geographical location.
