Class Action / Mass Tort

Class action litigation involves high-stakes and requires specialized skill and experience. The lawyers at Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge have a proven track record of success in class actions involving consumer products, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, product liability claims, civil rights, chemical exposure, foodborne illness, shareholder litigation, and antitrust violations. We are particularly sophisticated in the practice of complex litigation and have managed all facets involved in class actions, including pre-certification discovery, class expert retention, class certification hearings, interlocutory appeals of class certification rulings, class action trials, and approval and administration of class action settlements.

We understand that the key to success in class action litigation is having an in-depth knowledge of both the substantive area of law involved in the particular matter and the rules and procedures governing class action proceedings. We further understand that a primary battleground involved in class action litigation is the class certification process. The lawyers at Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge closely follow this constantly developing area of law in which numerous important rulings and opinions are issued every month. Our real-time knowledge of class action law allows us to identify our strategies for class certification and pre-certification discovery.

Litigation arising out of an alleged dangerous or defective product which causes injures to hundreds or even thousands of people is commonly referred to as a mass tort. Our team of mass tort trial attorneys has the know-how and experience to handle mass action lawsuits involving issues such as defective medical devices and pharmaceutical drugs and large-scale toxic environmental exposures. Oftentimes mass torts are coordinated by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to be litigated in front of a single federal district court judge in multidistrict litigation (MDL). Other mass torts are coordinated for litigation to be presided over by a particular state court judge. We have successfully represented our clients in numerous JPML hearings from coast to coast, we serve as lead counsel and liaison counsel in mass torts and coordinated proceedings in jurisdictions around the country, and we litigate mass torts in courtrooms across the United States.