A class-action lawsuit occurs when the court consolidates the cases of many defendants who have been harmed – typically by a drug or defective product. A class action is often referred to as a class suit is a case where one person (and their lawyers) represent many people who were hurt or injured in a similar manner.
These cases can be heard in either state or federal court. Traditionally, a federal court has been thought of as being more favorable to the defendant, or wrongdoing corporation, while state court has been thought to be more favorable to the plaintiff or victim; if the case was filed in state court it would likely be referred to as a Florida class action lawsuit.
Our Fort Myers personal injury lawyers are familiar with both settings and can pursue your claim in either of them as appropriate. Mass tort lawsuits are similar to a class action lawsuit but have a few distinct differences which we will further detail below.
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Understanding Florida Class Action Lawsuits
Most large class-action cases are now federal cases. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (pg. 7) generally provides for federal jurisdiction in class-action cases where damages exceed $5 million.
The Florida Class-Action Attorneys at Garvin Injury Law routinely review and monitor many types of cases involving defective products, dangerous pharmaceuticals, and defective medical devices. Many of these dangerous items have already been granted class-action status.
- In other cases, the class action lawyers at our Fort Myers based law firm work to determine if a dangerous or defective product case should be made eligible for its own class action.
- Another scenario with which we are familiar is called a mass tort, a mass tort lawsuit is similar to a class action lawsuit however in a Florida mass tort claim each case would be handled individually even though the similar or same harm occurred nationwide.Â
As for class action lawsuits, an attorney files suit for one or several plaintiffs, on behalf of a proposed class. The class must consist of a group that has suffered a common injury. The class action attorney for the injured party then must file a motion to have the class certified; this is not an easy process or one suited for an inexperienced lawyer. At our Florida Class Action Law Firm, we have a successful history of actually having classes certified and handling class action cases all the way to the trial phase.
Our Florida Class Action Lawyers are passionate about class action and mass tort cases as we believe that it is these cases that have the most likely chance of shaping an increase of safe manufacturing and safe design of the many of the products that we use every day.
Unfortunately, State and Federal lawmakers, who often receive large campaign contributions by the manufacturers of these dangerous and defective drugs and products, are working hard to restrict the rights of those injured by their negligence and restrict their ability to form a class. The Class Action Trial Lawyers at Garvin Injury Law alongside various pro-civil justice groups, fight tirelessly to keep these rights available for our clients as our collective safety depends on it.Â
Defective Medical Products: Florida Class Action Law Firm
The Fort Myers product liability attorneys at Garvin Injury Law are currently reviewing cases involving the following pharmaceuticals or medical products:
- 3M Combat Earplugs
- Abilify
- Actos – Diabetes Drug: Failure to warn of bladder cancer risk
- Avandia
- Antidepressants
- Acetaminophen
- Baby Formula Linked to NEC – NEC Class Action Lawsuit
- Bextra
- Benicar – Chronic Diarrhea, Nausea and Vomiting, Sprue-Like Enteropathy.
- Bisphosphonates
- Bair Hugger Warming Blankets – Infections
- Camp Lejeune Act
- CPAP
- Cymbalta: Neurological Injuries
- DePuy Hip Implants
- Digitek/Digoxin
- EssureÂ
- Elmiron
- Exactech Knee Oxidation
- Fentanyl Pain Patches
- Fleet Phospho-Soda Hormone Replacement Drugs
- GranuFlo & NaturalLyte Dialysis Products: Cardiac Arrest, Death, Arrhythmia, Metabolic Alkalosis, Stroke, Sudden Death
- Hernia Mesh
- Invokana and Farxiga
- IVC Filter
- Januvia, Janumet, Byetta, and Victoza
- Juul E-Cogarette
- Laparoscopic Power Morcellator
- Metal-On-Metal Hip Implants
- Kugel Hernia Mesh Patches
- Lipitor – Diabetes
- Metal-on-metal Hip Implants – DePuy, Zimmer, Biomet, Wright Medical, and others: Abnormal wear, premature device failure, elevated cobalt pseudotumor formation.
- Mirena IUD
- Onglyza, Kombiglyze and Kombiglyze XR – Heart Failure
- Ortho-Evra Birth Control Patches
- Osteoporosis Drugs
- Paragard
- Paraquat
- Pradaxa – Uncontrollable Bleeding & Death
- Propecia and Proscar – Sexual Dysfunction & Male Breast Cancer
- Proton Pump Inhibitors (Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec, Aciphex, Protonix, Zegerid, and Dexilant) – Renal / Kidney Failure
- Pain Pumps
- Power Morcellator – Laproscopic Hysterectomy or Fibroid removal surgery: risk of invasive uterine cancer
- Risperdal – Gynecomastia
- Roundup (Round-up) Weed Killer (Glyphosate-based herbicide)
- Smith & Nephew Modular SMF and REDAPT Hip Implants
- SMF Hip System & REDAPT
- Stockert 3t Heater-Cooler System
- Stryker Hip Stems and LFIT-V40 Heads
- Stryker Rejuvenate Hip Implant: Corrosion, Metallosis, premature device failure.
- Talcum Powder
- Taxotere – Permanent Hair Loss
- Trasylol — Aprotinin Injections
- Truvada
- Testosterone – Blood Clots, Heart Attacks, Stroke
- Valsartan
- Viagra & Cialis – Failure to warn of increase of melanoma growth reducing the window for effective cancer treatment
- Yaz, Yazmin, Beyaz, Gianvi, and Ocella- Birth Control: Heart attack, DVT, Pulmonary Emboli, Stroke, Sudden cardiac death
- Xarelto – Irreversible impairment of blood clotting
- Zantac
- Zofran & Depakote– Birth Defects
- Zostavax
- Zimmer M/L Taper, Kinectiv, and VerSys Hip Components – the breakdown of these metallic surfaces and abnormal wear cause premature failure and elevated cobalt and chromium.
Contact Our Fort Myers Class Action Lawyers Today
If you or a loved one has questions about defective products, dangerous pharmaceuticals, or class action lawsuits in South Florida, contact Garvin Injury Law online or call us at (239) 277-0005 for a free and confidential consultation with a class action attorney in based in Fort Myers to discuss your rights.