Are Product Liability Insurers Ready To Face Mass Torts?

Class action lawsuits have long been drivers of social inflation for insurers that provide product liability overage. But now a new legal vehicle, the ‘mass tort,’ looks to be waiting in the wings.

Unlike class actions, in which one plaintiff represents a class of people with a similar complaint about a product, mass torts assemble large numbers of individual legal actions, in which multiple plaintiffs file separate lawsuits over a product’s alleged faults and may receive individual settlements.

That can leave insurers defending multiple individual legal actions at once.

‘Instead of dealing with just a single action, you’re now dealing with 10, 20, 50 or 150 actions, all in relation to the same claim,’ said Grant Worden, a partner in Torys’ litigation department in Toronto.

The rise of mass torts could be due to their ability to help plaintiffs avoid long wait times and high costs associated with resolving certification motions for class actions, said Worden. Plus, they may help ease situations in which two different plaintiffs’ counsels issue similar class action claims in the same jurisdiction.