Mass torts and class action cases have a lot in common, but there are also important differences. Both types of lawsuits involve injury claims made by a group of individuals against a common defendant(s). The primary difference between these two forms of lawsuits is the plaintiffs’ level of control over their case. Mass torts are similar to traditional personal injury claims, where each plaintiff is treated as an individual. Class actions are usually larger than mass torts and often have many more plaintiffs, but the plaintiffs have little input as to how the legal proceedings unfold or the direction the attorneys will take the lawsuit.

Most mass tort cases stem from an act of negligence or misconduct. While most mass tort actions target a corporation, these lawsuits could also name individuals or other corporate entities as defendants. A valid mass tort case must involve multiple plaintiffs that sustained injuries at the hands of the same defendant(s) caused by the same harmful act. This could be a defective medical device, a medication, or tainted baby formula.

A scenario where a batch of produce caused salmonella poisoning in individuals who consumed that product (from the same lot) could qualify as a mass tort case.

Another example of mass tort cases includes bad batches of infant formula causing sickness or death to infants that consumed the product.

Some of the most common mass torts involve harmful side effects from prescription medications, such as Zantac, Valsartan, and Elmiron.