Mass Tort Settlement Class Actions: Five Case Studies.

摘要

This monograph examines five cases in which Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure has been used to achieve a settlement of a mass tort controversy. After a short introduction, the report sketches the nature and history of mass tort settlement class actions, and briefly analyzes Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, in which the Supreme Court entered the debate. The report then undertakes case studies of the five mass torts that employed the settlement class action device in federal court between 1990 and the Courts decision in Amchem : Bowling v. Pfizer, Inc., Georgine v. Amchem Products, Inc., Ahearn v. Fibreboard Corp., In re Silicone Gel Breast Implant Products Liability Litigation, and In re Factor VIII or IX Concentrate Blood Products Litigation.