Mass Tort

A mass tort is a large group of personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits arising from the same product, drug, device, chemical, or disaster. Examples include lawsuits over weed killers, talc powder, hair relaxers, firefighting foam, and implanted medical devices. Unlike a class action, where a few representatives sue for everyone, each mass tort plaintiff files and controls an individual lawsuit.

The difference matters because injuries vary. One person may have a minor complication and another a fatal cancer, with different medical histories, exposure levels, and damages. Courts usually cannot certify a class when the questions of causation and damages are so individual. Instead, federal cases are commonly consolidated in multidistrict litigation for shared pretrial work, while state cases may be coordinated in a single state court.

Mass torts typically move through recognizable stages: early lawsuits and investigation, consolidation, discovery into what the company knew, rulings on whether expert testimony on causation is reliable enough for trial, bellwether trials, and then either a global settlement program or dismissal. In the 3M Combat Arms earplug litigation, MDL No. 2885, 3M agreed on August 29, 2023, without admitting liability, to pay $6 billion to resolve nearly 250,000 lawsuits by service members, veterans, and others. Settlement programs usually pay according to injury severity, and each person decides whether to accept.

Joining a mass tort means filing your own claim, usually with a contingency-fee lawyer, within your state's deadline. See class actions versus mass torts, what an MDL is, and examples like the hair relaxer lawsuit, plus the bellwether trial entry.