New York Mass Tort Lawyers

In law, a “tort” is a wrongful act that leads to civil liability, laying the foundation for a personal injury lawsuit. A “mass tort” refers to a wrongful act that harms numerous people. Mass tort litigation tends to arise when manufacturers, distributors, or other business entities cause widespread harm to consumers. When plaintiffs in these situations sue, they can do so through several legal avenues. 

For example, they can bring their claims individually, in which case the damages they obtain through their lawsuits will be determined based on the specific harm suffered by each plaintiff. Attorneys handling mass torts in this way often draw on the facts, legal arguments, and results in related cases in order to build a strong claim for their own clients. 

In certain cases, however, mass tort litigation can take the form of a class action. This simply means that a named plaintiff or plaintiffs bring a lawsuit on behalf of all consumers harmed by the defendant’s actions, named and unnamed alike.  

There are very specific legal criteria that must be satisfied in order for a mass tort scenario to qualify for a class action, the most important being that the underlying facts, governing law, and harms suffered across individual cases be sufficiently related. If plaintiffs in a class action win, they are each awarded the same amount of damages.