Class-action suits

The success of massive class action suits against tobacco companies has encouraged litigators to try a similar approach against firearms manufacturers. 

By the end of the year, more than 20 cities file class action suits against gun makers, adopting a strategy similar to that used successfully against the big tobacco companies. 

McArdle, Elaine. Lawyers, Guns, and Money Firearms Litigation Ready to Explode. Lawyers Weekly USA, November 30, 1998, pp. B2-B5. Reports on the first wave of class action suits against gun makers, the legal strategies, and the confidence of proponents that they are on the winning side. 

What role can torts play when damages are collectively consumed Simple torts are prone to the same free-rider problems that groups face when purchasing emissions rights. If a neighbor successfully sues a company to reduce its emissions, all those who consume the air or water will benefit regardless of whether they contributed to the lawsuit costs. Class-action suits partially remedy the free-rider problem by allowing one suit to represent the diffuse interests of all the beneficiaries. ... 

Class-action suits are also used when exposure is a private good but numerous individuals all suffer the same damages from exposure. Such class actions exploit economies of scale that arise from the nearly identical circumstances across cases. 

The suit against Vioxx brought in 2002 went to trial in 2005, and the jury awarded the plaintiff, the widow of a man who died of a heart attack while using Vioxx, 253.4 million in damages. Merck won an appeal, but by March 2006 it faced more than 10,000 individual suits and 190 class-action suits. Despite success in fending off many that went to trial, the enormity of the legal actions led Merck to reach a settlement. The company has set aside 4.58 billion for payments to those who have enrolled in the settlement... 

March 3 In Warner-Lambert v. Kimberly Kent, the Supreme Court affirms a lower court decision allowing a Michigan class-action suit to proceed against Pfizer over the diabetes drug Rezulin. 

Vioxx could soon return to market after a panel of regulatory experts in the US ruled that the benefits outweigh the risk. And on the same day US curbs class action suits, and Bush administration introduces legislation to curb frivolous class action lawsuits. ... 

Class action suits against the tobacco companies have been more successful, perhaps in part because groups of... 

Due to the breast implant controversy prompted by class action suits in the 1980s and 1990s, silicone brejist implants were restricted for use [17]. The controversy prompted several large scientific studies independent from the manufacturers. As a result, poly(dimethylsilox me) is one of the most well-studied polymers for biological use md continues to remain classified as an FDA-approve biomaterial. The United States Food and Drug Administration approved the use of silicone gel-filled implants in 2006. Readers are directed to their website for a complete cissessment on the use of silicone-containing material for breast implants [14]. 

A large oil company defended itself in connection with a class action suit brought by neighboring property owners for diminution in property value due to alleged air and groundwater releases into the community from its petroleum terminal. 

Richard Powers s novel. Gain, provides a notable exception. It is written as two parallel stories one describes the rise of a large diversified chemical and later pharmaceutical company, Clare, and the co-development of its company town Lacewood, Illinois. The other recounts the illness and death of Laura Bodey, a divorced mother of two and resident of Lacewood who develops ovarian cancer. When a group of patients tries to mount a class-action suit against Clare, Laura Bodey refuses to participate. 

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