Attorney Sean T. Keith has been a personal injury lawyer for 30+ years, a nationally recognized Top 100 Trial Lawyer, and top car accident lawyer & motor vehicle accident lawyer in Arkansas.
This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy and clarity by the team of writers and attorneys at Keith Law Group and is as accurate as possible. This content should not be taken as legal advice from an attorney. If you would like to learn more about our owner and experienced injury lawyer, Sean T. Keith, you can do so here.
Keith Law Group does everything possible to make sure the information in this article is up to date and accurate. If you need specific legal advice about your case, contact us. This article should not be taken as advice from an attorney.
Many people tend to confuse a mass tort case and a class action lawsuit.
This isn’t surprising since they are very similar.
The main difference is that, with a class action lawsuit, there is one class of plaintiffs, and they all join in the lawsuit against a particular defendant.
In mass tort cases, each plaintiff has their own individual lawsuit.
The cases are handled together because it wouldn’t make sense to have dozens (or hundreds) of separate lawsuits over the same issue.
Because these cases can be quite complicated, you would want to entrust your case with an experienced Arkansas mass tort lawyer.
If you aren’t sure what a mass tort lawyer does, you’re not alone.
A lot of people assume they’re just like regular personal injury lawyers.
In a way, they are.
They represent people who have been injured by a third party.
The major difference is that, rather than representing one client, the mass tort attorneys in Arkansas represent a large group of people.
Here, we’ll discuss exactly what Arkansas mass tort lawyers do.
We’ll also discuss whether your case is something they would be willing to handle.
If you still have questions after reading this article, just give our office a call.
One of our staff members can schedule your free, initial consultation.
If you get bitten by your neighbor’s dog and need stitches, you need to call a personal injury lawyer.
The same is true if you get into a car accident and the other driver’s insurance company denies your claim.
However, if you’re injured by a dangerous drug that has recently been taken off the shelves, you’re better off hiring an Arkansas mass tort lawyer.
Mass tort lawyers pursue big corporations who are responsible for harming large groups of people.
Some of the common types of cases our mass tort lawyers handle include the following:
Lawsuits against common carriers for devastating accidents such as planes crashing, trains derailing, or cruise ships sinking.
These accidents typically leave dozens, if not hundreds of victims injured.
Oftentimes, these accidents also kill innocent passengers.
Mass tort attorneys in Arkansas are the ones who sue the airline, cruise line, or train company.
Mass tort attorneys in Arkansas also file suit against drug manufacturers.
Every week it seems like there is a new drug being declared dangerous.
For example, there have been many lawsuits filed against the manufacturers of the drug Zantac.
It is believed that this drug can cause cancer in patients who take it for ulcers.
Mass tort lawyers are the ones handling the lawsuits against various pharmaceutical companies.
Our lawyers at Keith Law also handle lawsuits against the manufacturers of defective products.
For example, if a company makes a lawnmower that is known to injure people when they attempt to refill it with gas, hundreds of people are going to get hurt.
If that company failed to properly warn people or take it off the market once they discovered the defect, they would be considered negligent.
An Arkansas mass tort lawyer would pursue them on behalf of the injured consumers.
Now that you are aware of the types of cases mass tort attorneys in Arkansas handle, we’ll discuss what these mass tort lawyers actually do.
Once news breaks that a certain product is defective, attorneys in Arkansas start getting phone calls from injured victims.
At times, it seems as if there isn’t enough time in the day to meet with all potential plaintiffs.
It’s our job to sort through all the potential cases to find the ones that have a viable claim against the defendant.
In order to qualify for a case, a plaintiff will need to meet certain criteria.
Some of the criteria that must be met includes:
Unlike a traditional personal injury case, some cases do go to trial.
However, your attorney will do whatever they can to avoid this.
The goal is to settle the lawsuit. However, this isn’t always possible.
With mass tort litigation, there are a lot of plaintiffs involved.
Before any settlement can be negotiated, your mass tort attorneys in Arkansas must determine damages for each one.
This way, they make sure that all plaintiffs will receive their fair share of the settlement proceeds.
Once the settlements are completed, the attorneys will work together to distribute the settlement to their clients.
Once they take their fee, they will do a pro rata distribution of any remaining proceeds.
If you’ve been injured by a defective product or dangerous drug, you may need to join a mass tort case.
What you should do is call one of our mass tort attorneys.
Since every case is different, there’s no way to know for sure if your case qualifies for mass tort.
If your injuries were caused by the same company that hurt some of our other clients, there is a good chance we’ll be able to help.
All you have to do is contact our office so we can set you up with your initial consultation.
This will give us a chance to see how serious your injuries were.
It will also let us determine if you qualify for the mass tort group our firm is handling at the time.
Since the initial consultation is free, you don’t have anything to lose.