3 Huge Mass Tort Cases in the US
A mass tort case is, in many ways, quite similar to a class-action lawsuit, but there are a few key differences that set the two apart. While both class action and mass tort lawsuits are filed against an entity deemed responsible for causing harm or injury to several people via the same wrongful act, each individual party harmed must, at first, file their individual personal injury claims separately with proof.
To know more about how to individually file your personal injury case and be included in a mass tort compensation case, consult Cellino Law if the incident happened in New York. For more reference, take a brief look through three of the biggest mass tort cases in United States.
Cordis and Cook IVC Lawsuits
IVC filters are placed inside the inferior vena cava of patients who are deemed to be at-risk for developing a pulmonary embolism or have had a history intravenous blood clots. Unfortunately, the same device that was supposed to save lives ended up becoming a cause of death and suffering for thousands of people. It was found that the Cordis and Cook IVC filters had a 1 in 4 chance of failing, making way for filter fracture, filter migration, filter embolization, caval thrombosis, caval perforation, and pulmonary embolism.
Any of these effects can and already have led to severe pain and death. The lawsuit is ongoing since thousands are involved in the mass tort but, as of 2019, the defending party has had to pay over $41 million in compensation. Things are beginning to pick up pace again in 2021, as the covid situation begins to settle down to some degree.
Johnson & Johnson Talc Lawsuits
In total, Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a court in Missouri to pay $4.69+ billion as compensation to the 22 women (or survivors in cases where the original had passed away) who developed ovarian cancer upon using the company’s talcum powder. Apparently, asbestos was found in some of their talc products, and Johnson & Johnson was charged as being guilty of covering up evidence of the same for more than four decades.
It should be noted that Johnson & Johnson has been a constant magnet for lawsuits now, as several of their products seem to be quite harmful in other ways as well. Apparently, Johnson & Johnson also paid $230 million to the State of New York this year in June, and was permanently barred from being a part of the medical opioids trade.
Bayer Weedkiller Lawsuits
Pesticides and herbicides are bad for everyone and everything, including humans. However, Bayer’s Roundup weedkiller herbicide was far too aggressive in its carcinogenic properties, as compared to what is considered to be acceptable. With nearly 100,000 individually filed cases of personal harm against the German giant in US, they have finally agreed to pay as much as $10.9 billion to the plaintiffs in total.
Understand that when it comes to personal injury lawsuits such as the ones already discussed, it does not matter whether there are hundreds or thousands of others who have suffered in the same way, since each personal injury case must be filed individually in order for them to be valid in a court of law. The case may at times be referred to casually as a class-action lawsuit, but that will not change this requirement, which applies to every mass tort case, since they all begin initially as a personal injury claim.
Boris Dzhingarov graduated UNWE with a major in marketing. He is the founder of ESBO ltd a brand mentioning company. He is also passionate about meditation and healthy living. You can find articles on such topics at his spiritual blog Dzhingarov.com.