No. Not if you retain Roberts and Roberts. When one of our clients is injured from a pharmaceutical drug, medical device, or other dangerous product – we represent our clients, and each is entitled to an individual lawsuit if they decide to file a lawsuit. They may, however, become part of a mass tort – which is often confused with a class action lawsuit. There are important differences.

A class action is when a small group of people file a lawsuit on behalf of a larger group of people. There are generally two requirements to file a class action lawsuit. First, there are issues in dispute that are common to all members of the class. Second, the persons affected by the lawsuit are so numerous that it makes it impractical for each of them to bring their own individual lawsuit.

In a class action, there may only be one trial and one judgment that affect all of the members of a class. If you have been injured by a pharmaceutical drug, medical device, or other unsafe product and are being represented by Roberts and Roberts, you will have an individual claim and if necessary, an individual lawsuit.

Your individual case could become part of a larger “mass tort,” and it will look like a class action in some manner. First, when people are injured by a pharmaceutical drug or medical device, many people (even hundreds of thousands) could be injured. If all of these people file individual lawsuits, they are sometimes called mass torts.

Most of these lawsuits end up in a federal district court in the United States. As the number of lawsuits grows, federal rules have been developed to help manage this large volume of cases.

Many times, all of the cases will be transferred to a single federal judge in a single federal district court in one particular state. This is done for efficiency and to make sure rulings are uniform for all of the injured people.

A single federal district judge will set the limits on what the manufacturer has to disclose and what medical information each injured individual must share with the manufacturer. The gathering of evidence is shared between all of the injured plaintiffs and their attorneys, and rulings are made about what is or is not going to be admitted into the trials.

Once all of the common issues of law and evidence have been resolved, then the individual plaintiffs are sent back to their original courtroom. Their particular case with their particular damages will be evaluated and either tried or settled on its own merits.

If you, or someone you know or love, have been injured by an unsafe or dangerous medical device, pharmaceutical drug, or other unsafe product, call the personal injury lawyers of Roberts and Roberts. For more than 30 years, these injury attorneys have worked to protect consumers and to hold manufacturers accountable for their actions. Roberts and Roberts has the expertise, resources, and staff to help an injured consumer level the playing field. The call costs you nothing… It could mean everything.