Class actions—civil cases in which parties initiate a lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs not specifically named in the complaint—have elicited heated policy debates. The RAND Institute for Civil Justice conducts objective research on class action practices such as multidistrict litigation status, social policy class actions, and international class actions.
REPORT
Some argue that the confidentiality of the civil justice system keeps it working efficiently and fairly; others argue that the public is being denied information about hazards that may cause harm. A balanced approach to increasing transparency can improve the system, raise public confidence, and protect litigants' privacy.
RESEARCH BRIEF
This research brief provides an overview of a collection of essays, a collaborative project by the UCLA-RAND Center for Law and Public Policy, examining the trade-offs between transparency and confidentiality in the civil justice system.
NEWS RELEASE
The quest for greater transparency in the American civil justice system is the topic of a new book of essays illustrating how a balanced approach to increasing transparency can improve the civil justice system, raise public confidence and protect litigants' privacy.
PROJECT
The RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) conducts research on all aspects of civil justice, from trends in litigation and jury verdicts to punitive damages, compensation systems, and alternative dispute resolution. Directly or indirectly, civil justice issues have an impact on us all.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
While a class action such as one brought under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 23 is certainly the most well-known mechanism for aggregating large numbers of similar claims, other approaches include mass joinder of parties, mass consolidation of separate cases, or multidistrict litigation transfer of federal cases from across the country into a single action for pretrial processing; corporate reorganizations under the U.S. Bankruptcy…
NEWS RELEASE
April 4, 2007 news release: RAND Study Finds Class Actions Against Insurers Rose Prior to Recent Reforms and Many Cases Occurred Outside Public View.
REPORT
The number of class action lawsuits filed against insurance companies in the United States increased sharply during the 1990s prior to the passage of the federal Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.
RESEARCH BRIEF
This research brief describes characteristics of more than 700 class action cases against large U.S. insurers -- trends in claims, their allegations, and their outcomes -- including the vast majority of cases that never become certified as a class.
REPORT
Claims for asbestos injuries have risen sharply since the 1990s and total more than 730,000 through 2002. At least 8,400 defendants have paid more than $70 billion on the litigation, 42 percent of which has gone to claimants.
REPORT
The number of asbestos claims filed annually, the number and types of firms named as defendants in asbestos litigation, and the costs of the litigation to those defendants have all risen sharply in recent years. Given these trends, the authors examine the dimensions of asbestos litigation: How many claims have been filed? By whom? Against whom? For what kinds of conditions? At what cost and with what economic effects? And, if current…
JOURNAL ARTICLE
She extends her consideration of mass tort litigation to include what she terms "the new social policy torts": suits against tobacco companies, firearms manufacturers, and managed care organizations that are intended to change public policy.
REPORT
This briefing documents the first phase of a new study on asbestos litigation, now the longest-running mass tort litigation in U.S. history.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
In this article, the authors explore alternative strategies for class-action reform aimed at improving the cost-benefit ratio of damage class actions.
REPORT
In this report, RAND outlines a comprehensive set of recommendations intended to help the National Transportation Safety Board (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.
REPORT
Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, RAND used a variety of quantitative and qualitative research techniques to assess the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) operations and processes.
REPORT
Class action lawsuits -- allowing one or a few plaintiffs to represent many who seek redress -- have long been controversial.
REPORT
Class action lawsuits-allowing one or a few plaintiffs to represent many who seek redress-have long been controversial.
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Population turnover, cohort survival, and intercohort transmission of effects are concepts widely applicable beyond the customary domains of demographic analysis.
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