Mass Torts Lawyer

anWhen a dangerous drug or defective medical device causes widespread harm, the legal process for seeking compensation differs from a standard personal injury claim. A mass torts lawyer handles cases resulting from large-scale product failures, situations where a manufacturer’s conduct has injured not just one person, but many. Kline & Specter has handled mass tort cases at the highest levels of complexity, including court-appointed lead counsel roles in multidistrict litigation and major verdicts against some of the country’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including a $2.25 billion verdict against Monsanto in Roundup weedkiller litigation.

What Are Mass Torts?

Mass tort lawsuits are civil actions in which multiple plaintiffs bring claims against one or more defendants for injuries caused by the same product, substance, or conduct. Each claim remains individual and plaintiffs are not grouped into a single representative action, but the cases are often coordinated in one state or federal court, which consolidates pretrial proceedings while preserving each claimant’s distinct damages.

Mass tort cases most commonly arise when a product reaches a large population before its risks are fully understood or disclosed. Unlike a localized accident, the harm is large-scale, and the same drug, device, or toxic exposure affects people across multiple states, sometimes over an extended period. The underlying liability questions about whether the product was defective or whether the manufacturer failed to warn are shared across individual cases, which is what makes coordinated state or federal proceedings appropriate.

Common Types of Mass Tort Cases

Mass tort claims typically fall into several broad categories. Dangerous pharmaceutical drugs are some of the most common, leading to cases in which a medication approved for public use is later linked to serious side effects that were not adequately disclosed to patients or physicians. Defective medical devices like mesh implants and pacemakers have generated substantial litigation when design flaws or manufacturing failures lead to complications requiring additional surgery or causing long-term harm. Toxic exposure cases involving asbestos, contaminated water, harmful chemicals, or other environmental hazards also frequently proceed as mass torts when the affected population is large enough.

Kline & Specter’s mass tort department has handled dangerous drug litigation, transvaginal mesh and other medical device claims, asbestos and mesothelioma cases, and defective consumer product matters.

How Mass Tort Cases Work

When a product causes harm across a broad population, individual lawsuits filed in different federal courts may be transferred to a single federal district for coordinated pretrial management. This is multidistrict litigation. A panel of federal judges evaluates whether the cases share common factual questions and, if so, assigns them to a single judge who oversees pretrial proceedings like discovery and expert designations on behalf of all plaintiffs.

Within that structure, plaintiffs’ attorneys share the burden of pretrial work. A small group of firms may be appointed by the court to serve in leadership positions, including lead counsel or members of a Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, responsible for directing legal strategy and representing the larger group’s interests before the court. Kline & Specter has held court-appointed leadership roles in major mass tort MDLs, including federal Vioxx litigation.

Certain cases within an MDL are selected as bellwether trials, or early individual trials whose outcomes help establish the litigation’s value and inform settlement negotiations. Each plaintiff’s compensation is determined individually, based on the nature and severity of that person’s specific injuries.

What’s the Difference Between Mass Tort and Class Action?

In a class action, a single representative plaintiff brings a lawsuit on behalf of a defined group. The class is treated as a single entity, and any verdict or settlement is distributed equally or according to a fixed formula among all class members. Class action lawsuits work well when harms are uniform and damages are similar across the group. They are common in consumer fraud, data breach, deceptive pricing cases, and others where individual harm is modest and the power of the case comes from aggregating many small claims.

Mass tort cases preserve individual claims. Each plaintiff and defendant relationship is evaluated on its own facts, and damages depend on that person’s specific medical history, the severity of their injury, and how the harm has affected their life. This distinction matters because personal injury cases involving dangerous drugs or medical devices rarely produce identical outcomes across thousands of people. Someone who required surgery, developed a chronic condition, or lost the ability to work has a fundamentally different claim than someone who experienced a milder adverse reaction. 

Who Can File a Mass Tort Claim?

A person may be eligible to file a mass tort claim if they were harmed by a product that has been the subject of widespread litigation involving similar injuries. Eligibility generally depends on several factors, such as whether the person used, was exposed to, or was injured by the product at issue, and whether the injury can causally be linked to the product’s alleged defect or the manufacturer’s failure to warn.

Because mass tort litigation is fact-specific, individuals with questions about whether their circumstances qualify should consult with counsel. Cases may involve medical records, prescription histories, device implant records, or documentation of workplace or environmental exposure.

How Our Mass Tort Lawyers Help You

Kline & Specter’s approach to mass tort litigation is shaped by decades of experience in complex pharmaceutical and medical device cases. The firm’s Mass Tort Department is headed by Tobi Millrood, who has more than 25 years of complex litigation experience, has held court-appointed leadership positions in major MDL proceedings, and served as president of the American Association for Justice, the world’s largest trial bar. The firm’s background in MDL leadership means the firm understands how large-scale litigation is managed at every level, from coordinating pretrial discovery to preparing individual cases for trial or settlement.

One of Kline & Specter’s distinctive advantages in mass tort and medical device cases is its doctor-lawyer team. The firm has five attorneys who are also licensed physicians, providing in-house medical analysis directly relevant to cases involving drugs, devices, and the injuries they cause. Our mass torts lawyers’ capacity to evaluate medical records and clinical literature to assess causation arguments is particularly valuable in mass tort litigation, where the link between a product and a plaintiff’s injury might depend on expert medical analysis.

How Long Do You Have to File a Mass Tort Claim?

The time available to file a mass tort claim is governed by statutes of limitations that vary depending on the type of claim, the state in which it arises, and, in some cases, when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. In cases where the effects of a drug or device take years to manifest, courts may apply a discovery rule that measures the filing deadline from the date the harm became apparent rather than the date of initial exposure or use.

Because these timelines are jurisdiction-specific and fact-dependent, individuals who believe they may have a claim should seek a legal evaluation without delay. Waiting may affect the ability to seek compensation even in cases where the underlying harm is well-documented.

What Compensation Can You Recover in a Mass Tort Claim?

Compensation in a mass tort case is evaluated individually, based on the specific harm each plaintiff suffered. While outcomes vary depending on the facts of each case, recoverable economic damages in mass tort litigation may include medical expenses like past treatment costs and anticipated future care, lost income, diminished earning capacity, and costs associated with long-term care or rehabilitation.

Non-economic damages including pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and the lasting effects of a serious or permanent injury are also considered in mass tort claims. In some cases, where a manufacturer’s conduct is found to be particularly egregious, punitive damages may be awarded as well. Kline & Specter’s record includes multiple major jury verdicts in cases where punitive damages were at issue, including an $8 billion punitive damages verdict against Johnson & Johnson in the Risperdal litigation. Each case is fact-specific, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Why Kline & Specter Is A Trusted Mass Torts Law Firm

Kline & Specter has been recognized among the nation’s leading mass tort law firms by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers for its handling of complex pharmaceutical and product liability matters, and was named a Law360 Product Liability Group of the Year in both 2025 and 2026, in large part for its work in the Roundup weedkiller litigation. The firm has been involved in some of the most consequential mass tort cases of the past three decades, including the Vioxx litigation, the $2.25 billion Roundup/Monsanto verdict, and a series of major jury verdicts against Johnson & Johnson in transvaginal mesh litigation, with individual verdicts reaching $120 million, $80 million, $57.1 million, and others.

The firm’s combination of MDL leadership experience and in-house doctor-lawyers with a track record of large-scale verdicts and settlements positions it to handle mass tort cases that require both legal sophistication and deep medical knowledge. For individuals seeking representation in a mass tort claim, Kline & Specter offers confidential case evaluations at no cost and handles cases on a contingency fee basis.