Class action lawsuits are a way to bring together individual plaintiffs into a single legal action. In multidistrict litigation (MDL), the court groups similar cases together and decides them in a single court. The main distinction between MDL and class action lawsuits is the situation of the plaintiffs in the litigation. Class action lawsuits involve multiple plaintiffs with the same injury, while mass tort lawsuits involve multiple plaintiffs with different injuries.
Mass tort lawsuits differ from class action lawsuits in that, while all plaintiffs have been harmed by the same defendant or defendants, their injuries may not be identical. For instance, if fifty people were given the same drug manufactured by the same company and all were injured by the drug, but the injuries were different, a mass tort lawsuit would be more suitable than a class action lawsuit. In conclusion, class action lawsuits are used when multiple plaintiffs have experienced the same injury, while mass tort lawsuits are used when multiple plaintiffs have experienced different injuries due to the same defendant or defendants. Both types of lawsuits can be used to seek compensation for damages caused by negligence or wrongdoing.
