• Class action lawsuits have several distinct requirements which must be met in order to be able to form class with the capacity to litigate.
  • Kelly Hyman has used class action and mass tort lawsuits to facilitate justice for those who are not able to do so themselves.
  • Mass tort lawsuits are a more general form of multi-plaintiff litigation which allows for a greater degree of flexibility in terms of outcome.

Class action and mass tort lawsuits share several similarities but also have important differences which separate their function and their use. For a lawsuit to be considered a class action lawsuit all of the individuals which make up the class of plaintiffs must have endured a similar injury from the same defendant. For example, the television show Better Call Saul features a class action lawsuit in which residents of a retirement home were being overcharged for the services which they were receiving.

Kelly Hyman
Kelly Hyman Kelly Hyman

In this example each member of the class is suffering from the same problem in that they are being overcharged for the services which they are receiving. The source of the injury is the same for each member of the class as the source is the retirement home’s procedure of overcharging their clients. It would be possible for each affected individual to create a separate suit but this is inefficient because each case will consume a great deal of time and money. It is more beneficial for the wronged parties to combine their suits into a single class action lawsuit.

A class action lawsuit groups the plaintiffs together as a class and these individuals are represented by one or several class representatives. This allows the class to have their issue heard in one case in a more efficient and cost effective manner. This is because the class can be represented by a single attorney or law firm instead of hiring separate representatives for each member of the class. The class representative is also called the named plaintiff and this individual must have the same legal issue as the other members of the class. Additionally, this individual must not have any conflict of interest which would lead them to put something else before the needs of the class.

Individuals who have suffered similar wrongdoings by the same company or individual cannot decide to create a class action lawsuit. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure lays out the requirements for who is allowed to form a class and what the class is allowed to create a lawsuit for. These rules state that for individuals to be a class the collection of individuals must be sizable enough that any smaller case would be impractical and that each individual's claim is contingent upon the same legal question or factual situation.

These are the requirements for a group of individuals to be certified as a class however there are additional requirements to be able to litigate as a class. There are three additional requirements in this regard. Firstly, the risk must exist that individual lawsuits of class members may have different results. Secondly, the desired compensation must be the same for the entire class and thirdly the point of fact or law which creates the class is the primary issue to the extent that the individual particularities of the cases are overwhelmed.

Due to the requirements of a class action lawsuit it can be challenging to create a class which has the right to litigate. As a result many cases which affect a large number of individuals will be heard as a mass tort lawsuit. A mass tort lawsuit is a combination of a group of individuals who are making similar claims against one party. Class action lawsuits are a type of mass tort lawsuit. A mass tort suit will be more cost effective for the affected party because of the ability to hire a single attorney or law firm to represent multiple individuals.

An example of a mass tort lawsuit would be a case in which a defective medication reached the market. Each individual would be affected negatively by the same medication but the extent to which they were affected would differ significantly. This group of individuals would not be able to be certified as a class because of the differences in the particular circumstances of the claims and the different compensation required.

Kelly Hyman and Her Legal Career

Kelly Hyman is the founder of The Hyman Law Firm as well as an advocate for political and social justice. She has used both class action and mass tort lawsuits to facilitate the creation of fairness and social change in the realms of faulty medical devices, tobacco usage and issues concerning veterans. Hyman was an actress for 25 years and appeared in a number of films, television shows and commercials.

She graduated from the University of California with a Bachelor of the Arts majoring in Communications and went to earn her Juris Doctorate cum laude from the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. She clerked for notable judges which include Robert Mark in Florida and Brian Sandoval in Nevada. Hyman is on the board of governors of the American Association for Justice and she is a participant in the Women’s Caucus Lobby Day in Washington D.C. She is a member of the Bar in Colorado, Florida, New York and Washington D.C. Hyman has been named one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by The National Trial Lawyers.

Hyman’s law firm is focused on consumer class action and mass tort litigation. To this end, Hyman has represented hundreds of clients in multidistrict litigation class action lawsuits against a number of large multinational corporations. This includes the likes of Philip Morris, Johnson and Johnson and Facebook. In pursuing these cases Hyman has performed a wide range of legal tasks ranging from conducting depositions to being a member of the trial team. She has also worked on class action cases concerning water contamination and transvaginal mesh and bladder slings.

Final Thoughts

Kelly Hyman has dedicated her legal career to fighting and advocating for those who are unable to do so for themselves. She has gained a considerable amount of experience in class action and mass tort lawsuits and she utilizes this experience to continue effecting positive change. This change has come in the form of compensation for individuals who have been negatively affected by products or services which certain companies have provided. Additionally, her work has impacted business regulatory outcomes as well as the health and well-being of those least able to advocate for themselves.