What is the difference between mass tort and class action?
Both mass tort lawsuits and class action lawsuits involve large groups of plaintiffs who share similar grievances with the defendants. However, a mass tort case treats each case as an independent lawsuit, with each plaintiff’s evidence of negligence, injuries, and losses standing on its own merits.
On the other hand, a class action treats all the cases as a single legal action. A class representative supports all members of the class—all of whom constitute a single plaintiff. A class action is one claim for multiple individuals, and an MDL is multiple lawsuits for multiple individuals.