personal injury litigation Archives

The Medical Monitoring Tort Remedy: Its Nationwide Status, Rationale, and Practical Application (A Possible Dynamic Tort Remedy for Long-Term Tort Maladies)

February 24th, 2023|Categories: Emerging Litigation & Risk, HB Emerging Law Notes, Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation, New Featured Post for Home Page|Tags: Edgar Gentle, emerging litigation, Gentle, hb litigation, journal on emerging issues in litigation, litigation articles, mass torts, medical monitoring, personal injury, personal injury law, personal injury litigation, Sexton & Harbison LLC, Turner|

The Author Edgar C. Gentle III (egentle@gtandslaw.com) is founder and managing partner of Gentle, Turner, Sexton & Harbison LLC in Birmingham, Alabama, where he focuses on complex commercial litigation, mass torts, and class actions. He also serves as a court appointed neutral and settlement administrator. Interviews with leading attorneys and other subject matter experts on new twists in the law and how the law is responding to new twists in the world. The Medical Monitoring Tort Remedy: Its Nationwide Status, Rationale, and Practical Application (A Possible Dynamic Tort Remedy for Long-Term Tort Maladies) "States that allow medical monitoring do so when a group of claimants has been exposed to a known hazardous substance, such as lead, or a dangerous product, such as football helmet concussions, or air decompression in an airplane, through the conduct of the Defendant, with the claimants therefore being at increased risk of contracting disease. Under this tort remedy, claimants are tested periodically, for an agreed or decided period, usually between 10 and 40 years, to see if they contract the disease linked to the toxic substance or dangerous product. Thus, medical monitoring recognizes the long-term harmful nature of toxins and man-made products, thereby matching a remedy with the malady." Abstract: The author administers six mass tort settlements with [...]

Alternative Financial Support for Plaintiffs During Litigation with Erin Waas

Our Guest Erin Waas is Executive Director of The Milestone Foundation, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides financial assistance to people pursuing a personal injury lawsuit. Erin brings nearly two decades of experience working in the public sector and with nonprofits in fundraising and communications, most recently at the University at Buffalo, where she served as senior advancement writer. Prior to relocating to Buffalo, Erin spent the bulk of her career to-date in Boston, where she worked in stewardship at Harvard University and as a consultant for nonprofits of all sizes. Alternative Financial Support for Plaintiffs During Litigation with Erin Waas For an individual, merely navigating litigation can be expensive, time consuming, and at times overwhelming. But when that individual is also unable to work, or cannot function normally because they have been disabled by an injury, that explodes the level of stress on a person and their family. There are companies in the "non-recourse settlement advancement" space that will provide financial support to claimants in litigation. This helps them with their regular daily expenses – plus medical costs – until their case settles or until they receive an award. But most of these companies, as you can imagine, are for-profit entities. As such, their fees can make their support unaffordable and can leave [...]