ADSENSE HERE!
asbestos lawsuit
Class action lawsuits involving mesothelioma and asbestos began surfacing in the late 1960s. At the time, the public had just become aware of the serious health hazards of asbestos exposure. Since then, judges have resorted to a number of procedural methods to manage asbestos claims that now number in the millions.
Class action lawsuits serve a specific purpose in the American judicial system. They are a way to resolve disagreements involving similar claimants with similar injuries and defendants. Class actions have not been widely used in asbestos cases.
A class action lawsuit is a claim in which a group of people collectively bring a complaint to court. These types of lawsuits are filed against a defendant by one or more plaintiffs on behalf of a group of “similarly situated” people.
State and federal courts have their own procedural rules governing class actions. Most agree that the group must share similar injuries caused by shared circumstances that raise the same legal issues.
The court must determine that there are sufficient similarities and that separate lawsuits would be impractical or burdensome. Then it will certify the group as a class and allow them to litigate their case collectively.
History of Mesothelioma and Asbestos Class Actions
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
About 20 years after the first mesothelioma and asbestos class action lawsuits were filed, the number of cases grew to about 20,000.
As awareness increased and doctors diagnosed more people with mesothelioma, the number of claims escalated to 750,000 in another 20 years. Judges were aware of the overwhelming number of claims and the difficulty of managing so many.
In 1991, federal asbestos cases were consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for pretrial purposes. Multidistrict asbestos litigation continues to be heard in this court, and is known as MDL 875
Mesothelioma class actions are filed against companies that knew the dangers of asbestos exposure and did not warn employees. Examples include manufacturers and distributors of asbestos-containing products, mining and construction companies and shipbuilders. These kinds of companies are often named as defendants in these class actions.
Georgine v. Amchem Inc.
The presiding judge was expected to facilitate a global settlement between the major asbestos defendants and plaintiffs’ attorneys. That effort failed. A group of asbestos manufacturers and major plaintiff’s firms attempted to negotiate a settlement agreement. Not intending to go to trial, the parties filed a complaint, answer, joint motion to certify a class and a proposed settlement agreement for Georgine v. Amchem Prods., Inc.
Under the proposal in Amchem, the parties would seek to create a class solely for settlement purposes. Claims of unimpaired plaintiffs would be deferred and a payment matrix would be applied to other claims, including future asbestos claims.
The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled against class certification. The court ruled that it was inappropriate because the class of claimants was too large and had too many varied interests. In addition, common questions of law and fact did not predominate within the proposed class.
ADSENSE HERE!
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar