Bethany Palmer Recht is an accomplished Cincinnati, Ohio attorney with over 15 years of experience. She is a partner with Keating Muething & Klekamp, a nationally respected law firm that provides legal solutions to businesses of all sizes, from Fortune 50 corporations to startups.

1. Is a Class
Action the Same
as a Mass Tort?

2. Bethany Palmer Recht is an accomplished
Cincinnati,Ohioattorney withover 15 years of
experience.She is a partner withKeating Muething
& Klekamp,a nationally respectedlaw firmthat
provideslegal solutionsto businessesof all sizes,
fromFortune50 corporationsto startups. At the
law firm,Bethany Recht handlesa wide range of
legal concerns,includingcomplexcommercial
litigationand mass tort matters.

3. A mass tort case involves a large
group of people filing a lawsuit in a
federal or state court against a
company whose dangerous drug,
defective product, or corporate
wrongdoing has caused them to be
harmed. This lawsuit is not a class
action suit, but there are significant
parallels between the two legal
actions. For example, both class
action and mass tort claims are
brought against a common
defendant and feature many
plaintiffs who allege they have been
physically or financially harmed by
the company being sued.

4. In most cases, class actionshave moreplaintiffsthan mass tort
suits,but the primarydistinctionbetweenthe two legal actions
is the treatment of the plaintiffs.Ina mass tort suit, every party
claimingcompensationfromthe defendantneeds to prove that
the defendant'sactions caused them harm.Witha class action,
plaintiffsaren't seen as individuals,butas a collective that has
to proveits case against the entity they're pursuingdamages
from.The court considersthem to be a single plaintiffwho may
be representedby a team of attorneys or a single attorney.

5. If a class action case is successful, the compensation awarded is normally
distributed equally among the plaintiffs. However, in a mass tort lawsuit, one
plaintiff may receive significantly more compensation than anotherdue to
their unique circumstances. This could be the case, for example, if they
sustained more severe injuries due to the defendant'swrongdoing.