Class Action Lawsuits & Mass Torts
By shifting the focus of the class action debate to improving the way these suits are litigated, antagonists can find common ground
Long a matter of controversy, public debate about class action lawsuits was reinvigorated in 1991 when the Civil Rules Advisory Committee took up the issue of whether mass tort lawsuits should be certified as class actions. As the issue mushroomed into an ideological debate about the social purposes of class actions, the rule reform process was brought to a halt.
In 1996, a team of ICJ researchers began an effort to describe the current landscape of class actions for money damages and to study the practices and outcomes of these suits. The result was Class Action Dilemmas: Pursuing Public Goals for Private Gain, a comprehensive, book-length study published in 2000.
The ICJ's next phase of research into aggregated forms of litigation will focus on new developments in mass torts and class action practice such as multi-district litigation status, social policy class actions, and international class actions.
Featured Publications
Insurance Class Actions in the United States - 2007
Nicholas M. Pace, Stephen J. Carroll, Ingo Vogelsang, Laura Zakaras
This book provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of insurance class actions, using data collected from 57 large U.S. insurance companies for almost 750 class action cases.
Related:
RAND Study Finds Class Actions Against Insurers Rose Prior to Recent Reforms and May Cases Occurred Outside Public View – April 4, 2007
News Release
Anatomy of an Insurance Class Action
Asbestos Litigation Costs and Compensation - 2005
Stephen J. Carroll, Deborah R. Hensler, Jennifer Gross, Elizabeth M. Sloss, Matthias Schonlau, Allan Abrahamse and J. Scott Ashwood
Presents the most comprehensive description to date of the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history.
Related:
RAND Study Finds More than 730,000 People Have Filed Asbestos Injury Claims in U.S., Costing Defendants More Than $70 Billion – May 10, 2005
Asbestos Litigation Costs and Compensation: An Interim Report - 2002
Stephen Carroll, Deborah Hensler, Allan Abrahamse, Jennifer Gross, Michelle White, Scott Ashwood, and Elizabeth Sloss
Examines the dimensions of current asbestos litigation and the potential future effects of the litigation on the U.S. economy.
Related:
RAND Study Shows Asbestos Claims Rise Dramatically; Cost of Claims Filed by 600,000 People Now Tops $54 Billion – September 25, 2001
Revisiting the Monster: New Myths and Realities of Class Action and Other Large Scale Litigation - 2002
Deborah Hensler
This article considers "the new social policy torts": suits against tobacco companies, firearms manufacturers, and managed care organizations that are intended to change public policy.
Asbestos Litigation in the U.S.: A New Look at an Old Issue - 2001
Deborah Hensler, Stephen Carroll, Michelle White, Jennifer Gross
This briefing documents the first phase of a new study on asbestos litigation, now the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history.
Related:
Asbestos: Over 500,000 Claimants and $21 Billion and Counting – August 15, 2000
Beyond "It Just Ain't Worth It": Alternative Strategies for Damage Class Action Reform - 2001
Deborah R. Hensler, Thomas D. Rowe
In this article, the authors explore alternative strategies for class-action reform aimed at improving the cost-benefit ratio of damage class actions. They sought to identify mechanisms for enhancing the court system's capacity to screen out non-meritorious suits, while preserving access to the courts for meritorious actions.
Class Action Dilemmas: Pursuing Public Goals for Private Gain - 2000
Deborah R. Hensler, Nicholas M. Pace, Bonita Dombey-Moore, Beth Giddens, Jennifer Gross, Erik Moller
Are class actions worth their costs to society and to business? Do they do more harm than good? This study answers these questions by describing the landscape of current damage class action litigation, elucidating problems, and identifying solutions.
Related:
Study Says Class Action Reform Should Focus on Settlement Practices, Urges Judges to Tighten Management of Cases and Fees – November 1, 1999
Safety in the Skies: Personnel and Parties in NTSB Aviation Accident Investigations - 2000
Cindy Lebow, Liam Sarsfield, William L. Stanley, Emile Ettedgui, Garth Henning
In this report, RAND outlines a comprehensive set of recommendations intended to help the NTSB strengthen the party process, create a more expansive statement of causation, modernize investigative procedures, streamline internal operating procedures, better manage resources, maintain a strategic view of staffing, streamline training practices, improve facilities for engineering and training.
Related:
Safety in the Skies: Personnel and Parties in NTSB Aviation Accident Investigations: Master Volume – 2000
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