Stuart Mass Torts Lawyer

The Stuart mass torts lawyer advises that people injured by a company producing a particular defective product may file individual lawsuits that are bundled together, forming what is called a mass tort in the law. A tort is a wrongful act that causes injury, and mass means people have been injured in various ways who live in different legal jurisdictions. Contact a skilled Stuart personal injury attorney to see if you have a case.

Defining Mass Torts

Mass torts differ from class action lawsuits, which have many plaintiffs all seeking damages under one lawsuit and splitting the award among all of the plaintiffs in the class. Because mass tort litigants have individual lawsuits and individual trials and juries, the amount of monetary damages they recover is greater, because damages are not divided among many plaintiffs.

A mass tort case can be settled with the defendant company without going to trial. The Stuart mass torts lawyer is accomplished at negotiating with a defendant’s insurance carrier to achieve fair compensation, resisting the insurer’s effort to reduce the amount of damages to serve its own interests. More than one company may be sued under product liability law, such as suppliers and other companies sharing the production, sales, and delivery systems depending on the circumstances of the case.

Mass torts can be used in a variety of legal actions other than product liability. Disasters such as blazes ripping through an apartment complex or drinking water contamination, anti-trust litigation against companies, and aircraft crashes also can be mass tort cases.

What is the Benefit of Pursuing this Type of Case?

Mass torts differ from other types of lawsuits in that the Stuart mass torts lawyer and other attorneys representing individuals in the legal action can be practicing in tandem even though they are in different legal jurisdictions. They can work together sharing ideas on legal strategies, exchanging relevant evidence and other information, and combining their resources. In addition to achieving larger amounts of damages, the lawyers’ sharing all of these can reduce the cost of litigation for the claimants because legal preparation is not duplicated.

Who are Gathering Claimants?

Those who are injured by a common reason will not know about each other. Stuart mass torts attorneys will use television, the internet, social media, and other avenues of mass communications to inform them of the intending litigation.

Lawsuit Filing Deadline

In Florida, those joining a mass tort litigation have just two years from the date of injury or its discovery to file a lawsuit, including if the injury resulted in death. This may sound like a long time, but other legal steps must be taken before filing a lawsuit.

The plaintiff has to develop evidence to support the alleged wrongful act and calculate current and expected damages of the potential claim. The defendant must receive this information in a letter demanding damages. If the demand letter is not honored, filing a lawsuit is the next step.

Assessing Damages

In mass tort cases, the injuries of the parties involved can be quite different. For example, the apartment complex fire can cause severe burns in one litigant, broken bones in another, and amputation in a third. Common damages are loss of income the injured person has because the injury prevents them from going to work. The injury may be so severe that future income is unable to be earned. Medical care and therapeutic treatment must be calculated based on actual expenses and estimates of necessary expenses that have not yet occurred.

A Stuart mass torts lawyer at a free consultation can explain the applicable law and evaluate the viability of a lawsuit. The consultation does not mean someone must hire the attorney. If the lawyer is hired, it is customary for personal injury attorneys to work on contingency, meaning the individual will not owe the attorney any attorney fees unless the case is won. Attorney fees are then paid from the damages awarded.