Individual Justice In Mass Tort Litigation

Documenting a prominent jurist's efforts, a collection of case studies examines his successes with Vietnam veteran exposure to Agent Orange, asbestos, and DES and repetitive stress syndrome, describes current legal attitudes, and recommends compassionate alternatives.

Provides comprehensive coverage of all major mass tort cases of the 1980s and 1990s, including asbestos litigation, Agent Orange, the Dalkon Shield, DES, silicone breast implants, repetitive-stress injuries, defective heart valves, cigarette smoking, and tainted blood products. Also includes landmark mass-accident cases such as the Hyatt Regency Skywalk collapse, the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire litigation, and airplane crash litigation. Includes materials relating to environmental disasters such as Three Mile Island and Love Canal. Designed as an advanced course of interest to professors of civil procedure, torts, federal courts, conflicts, and related subjects.

Does not include the Appendices in the full report of the same title.

The Report of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and the Working Group on Mass Torts to the Chief Justice of the U.S. and to the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Chapters include: letter of transmittal to the Chief Justice; introduction; summary; the mass torts phenomenon; discrete problems of mass torts; potential solutions for consideration; and protocols for further action. The extensive appendices are available in a separate volume.

Presenting twenty-two years of multidistrict litigation data, this book exposes a systematic lack of checks and balances in our courts.

The traditional definition of torts involves bizarre, idiosyncratic events where a single plaintiff with a physical impairment sues the specific defendant he believes to have wrongfully caused that malady. Yet public attention has focused increasingly on mass personal-injury lawsuits over asbestos, cigarettes, guns, the diet drug fen-phen, breast implants, and, most recently, Vioxx. Richard A. Nagareda’s Mass Torts in a World of Settlement is the first attempt to analyze the lawyer’s role in this world of high-stakes, multibillion-dollar litigation. These mass settlements, Nagareda argues, have transformed the legal system so acutely that rival teams of lawyers operate as sophisticated governing powers rather than litigators. His controversial solution is the replacement of the existing tort system with a private administrative framework to address both current and future claims. This book is a must-read for concerned citizens, policymakers, lawyers, investors, and executives grappling with the changing face of mass torts.

in recent years, there has been a growing interest in the legal aspects of mass torts in Europe. Both academics, legislatures, courts and policymakers throughout the whole of Europe have been struggling with the challenges that such ‚massification‘ of private law relationships poses both in and outside of tort law. The subject moves between the law of civil procedure, substantive tort law, access to justice debates and regulatory frameworks for mass disputes. This volume offers both a caleidoscopic review of real-life key cases of mass tort and an in-depth reflection on the broader implications of mass tort in Europe. Thus, the challenges posed by mass torts are explored, mapped and analysed.

A useful guide for attorneys of all levels of experience to most phases of mass tort cases.