Mass Tort Deals: Backroom Bargaining in Multidistrict Litigation
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Description
Mass-tort lawsuits over products like pelvic and hernia mesh, Roundup, opioids, talcum powder, and hip implants consume a substantial part of the federal civil caseload. But multidistrict litigation, which federal courts use to package these individual tort suits into one proceeding, has not been extensively analyzed. In Mass Tort Deals, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch marshals a wide array of empirical data to suggest that a systematic lack of checks and balances in our courts may benefit everyone but the plaintiffs - the very people who are often unable to stand up for themselves. Rather than faithfully representing them, plaintiffs' lawyers may sell them out in backroom settlements that compensate lawyers handsomely, pay plaintiffs little, and deny them the justice they seek. From diagnosis to reforms, Burch's goal isn't to eliminate these suits; it's to save them. This book is a must read for concerned citizens, policymakers, lawyers, and judges alike.
ISBN
9781108416979
Publication Date
5-16-2019
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Keywords
Torts
Disciplines
Torts
Repository Citation
Burch, Elizabeth Chamblee, "Mass Tort Deals: Backroom Bargaining in Multidistrict Litigation" (2019). Books. 150.
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/books/150
Comments
Professor Burch has a website with links to all of the data used in the research for this book. For more information please visit https://www.elizabethchambleeburch.com/ to search MDL Data and MDL Docs.