Attorneys nationwide are joining the trend to add mass tort claims to their personal injury practice. Based on conservative estimates, two to four million people per year are seriously or fatally injured in mass tort cases.
Most mass tort cases are product liability cases against pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Other types involve airplane crashes, train wrecks, hotel fires, asbestos, patent, antitrust price fixing, data security breaches, securities fraud and employment claims.
It is the only practice in which economies of scale exist. These cases are national and involve filing same primary claim over and over for multiple plaintiffs. The math is compelling: in the right situation it can cost $1,500 to acquire a client with a case that will settle for $300,000, according to John Ray, senior consultant for Mass Tort Nexus and a former pharmaceutical executive. See Top 5 mass tort Cases for Plaintiff Lawyers Right Now.
“It is a multi-billion dollar immature market, with economies of scale and only a single barrier to entry. You have already overcome the barrier, if you hold a bar card,” Ray said.
The best strategy is to find a mass torts case with strong liability, many plaintiffs, a financially viable defendant, high settlement values and a reasonable cost to acquire a client. Here are five tips:
- Timing.
There are several optimal moments to seek mass tort clients:
- In the emerging phase, when many attorneys are advertising about a particular mass tort. Most patients do not connect their prescription with an adverse event. The highest consumer awareness exists when advertising is at its peak. Currently this includes IVC Filters, Bair Hugger blankets, Invokana, Xarelto, Pradaxa, Transvaginal Mesh, Morcellator, talcum powder, Zofran and Metal-on-metal hips, according to Steve Nober, CEO of the Consumer Attorney Marketing Group.
- MDL phase. When the federal courts create a multi-district litigation docket (MDL) for the mass tort. There are 300 federal MDLs, which organize hundreds of cases and promote settlements with trials of bellwether cases. Courts will create a form complaint and plaintiff’s fact sheet, which can be found on Mass Tort Nexus. The MDL plaintiffs committee works on all the scheduling, motions and trials.
- In the settlement phase, when the defendant announces to its stockholders that it has set aside a settlement fund. At this point, attorneys are signing clients to settle their cases.
Related Article: 9 Tips – Prepare Your Plaintiff for a Personal Injury Deposition
Chester M. Gilson 