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Statistical Determination of Mass Tort Damages: Coming Soon to a Court Near You?
Traditionally, courts have been reluctant to consider the use of statistical tools such as sampling to determine damages in class action litigation and other cases involving large groups of plaintiffs. Arguments against the practice include the fact that it seemingly flies in the face of the Seventh Amendment, and that damages, by their very nature, are peculiar and specific to each individual plaintiff.
However, as Federal District Judge Jack B. Weinstein observed in a ruling in a huge, ongoing consumer-fraud class action against Big Tobacco, “mass tort cases have stripped the ability of the common law, with its relatively rigid adherence to precedent, to fashion remedies that adequately redress the harms of modern technological society.” In re: Simon II Litigation, No. 00-CVBB5332, 2002 U.S. Dist LEXIS 19773 (E.D.N.Y. 2002).
In his exhaustive analysis of the role of statistical evidence in mass torts, Judge Weinstein noted that: “Requiring individual proof as to each claim would unnecessarily intrude upon the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Examining each grain of sand is too burdensome in a survey of a beach.” Judge Weinstein concluded that cases involving large numbers of plaintiffs may be impossible to try on an individual basis ' consolidation and an aggregate determination of damages may be the only realistic course available.
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Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
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