Houston Mass Tort Lawyer
A tort is a civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy to the injured party, such as a car or truck accident. A mass tort is any civil wrong that harms mass numbers of people, sometimes in the hundreds or thousands. As you might imagine, mass tort cases are much more complex than cases where only a single party is injured. Mass tort cases rarely settle early and often require a great deal of litigation or a trial before the case is resolved through settlement or jury verdict.
Gilde Law Firm is a Houston trial law firm that takes on the most difficult and challenging cases and litigates them all the way through trial whenever that strategy is in our clients’ best interests. If we need to work with other firms from out-of-state as either lead counsel or co-counsel, we are happy to do so if it will get you a better result. All of this is done at no additional cost to you.
Any single accident can be painful and traumatic. By their sheer scale, mass tort events are horrific tragedies that can devastate families and whole communities. At Gilde Law Firm, our Houston mass tort lawyers understand the pain you are going through after a horrible accident, and we know what it will take to make things right again. We put all our efforts into obtaining the best settlement or jury verdict so you can deal with the challenges that have befallen you and recover to the fullest extent possible. If you or a family member has suffered harm because of another’s negligence, call Gilde Law Firm for a no-cost consultation to find out how we can help. We believe. We fight. We win.
Mass Tort Cases We Handle
Gilde Law Firm is a big-city Houston trial law firm with a small-town feel. This means we have the skills and resources to take on cases of any size while maintaining a focus on our clients and their needs. Our firm takes on mass tort casualty cases throughout the Houston area and nationally, including any of the following and more:
- Dangerous drugs
- Defective products
Some of the mass tort cases our firm is currently investigating include:
Roundup – One of the key ingredients in the weed killer Roundup is glyphosate, which has been found to be a probable human carcinogenic and has been linked to a particular type of cancer known as Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Roundup has been an extremely popular product for residential and commercial users for years and has continued to be marketed long after its manufacturers have known about the health risks.
Our team at Gilde Law Firm wants to hear from you if you or a family have member have suffered injury or worse from the use of any of the above products or in any mass tort event.
Mass Tort Collective Actions
When a large number of people are hurt in the same incident, they might flood the courts with hundreds or thousands of lawsuits. When the plaintiffs share similar injuries from the same accident against the same defendant, it can be more efficient for the courts to hear all of the cases together. There is one set of facts to prove and one set of laws to apply, and the court can resolve all of the complaints at once. Alternatively, the defendants or their insurance companies can agree to a mass settlement that settles all the claims at once without having to go to trial. These kinds of collective actions are typically either class actions or multi-district litigation.
Class Actions – Everyone has heard of class actions; it’s a common feature in TV and movie legal dramas. In a class action, one lead plaintiff prosecutes the case on behalf of the class, and each member eventually receives a portion of the settlement or jury verdict that gets reached if there is a victory for the plaintiffs. A major step in class-action litigation is getting the class certified by the court, which often initiates serious settlement talks to avoid a trial the defendants usually don’t want. Many legal elements must be present to certify class, and the attorney or attorneys working on the case invest a great deal of time, effort, and expense in getting the class certified. Lawyers’ fees in a class action are approved by the court and awarded separately from the settlement or jury verdict.
Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) – In an MDL, plaintiffs file their own individual civil lawsuits in different judicial districts across the country. To make the cases easier to administer, the courts consolidate the cases and transfer them to one district court to oversee and manage the litigation during the pre-trial phases of discovery and motions. Sometimes the parties will reach a global settlement without trial. If not, the cases go back to their original courts for trial. A handful of cases are typically tried first; these are called bellwether trials because they give an indication of how judges and juries might rule given similar facts in other cases. The results of a bellwether trial can help the remaining parties negotiate a pre-trial settlement based on that additional information.
Gilde Law Firm can discuss your case with you and help you decide whether it is in your best interest to file or join a class action or opt-out and keep your case separate. Our firm stands ready to participate in a class action or MDL in any necessary capacity that is most likely to do justice for our clients and get you an excellent result.
Our Houston Mass Tort Law Firm Is Here for You
If you or a family member has been injured by a defective product or any incident which might give rise to mass tort litigation, make sure you talk to a trial law firm with the experience and resources necessary to handle your case appropriately and get you the compensation and medical care you need and deserve. In Houston, call Gilde Law Firm at 281-973-2772 for a free consultation.
