Can mass tort and MDL plaintiffs get funding?
Yes. Plaintiffs in established mass torts or multi-district litigation with documented injuries can often get non-recourse funding, sometimes before their individual case value is set. It helps people wait out the multi-year timeline these cases require. You repay only from a recovery.
Key facts
- Covers dangerous drugs, defective devices, and toxic exposure claims.
- Cases proceed as multi-district litigation (MDL), often for years.
- Funding may be available before your individual value is set.
- Underwriters track bellwether results and settlement matrices.
- Non-recourse: no recovery, no repayment.
What a mass tort actually is
When the same product or drug hurts a lot of people, the courts often consolidate the cases into multi-district litigation. The claims stay individual, but pretrial proceedings get handled together for efficiency. Think defective hip implants, harmful medications, toxic exposure, contaminated water. You keep your own case, but it travels with thousands of others.
Why the wait is so long
These cases are decided in stages. A handful of representative cases, called bellwethers, go to trial first. Their results shape the settlement negotiations for everyone else. That process takes years before a global settlement framework emerges, and then more time before individual checks go out. Plenty of plaintiffs are squeezed financially the entire way through.
How mass tort funding is different
Underwriting a mass tort isn't like underwriting a car wreck. Instead of one police report, the funder looks at the state of the whole litigation: the bellwether verdicts, the settlement matrix if one exists, and the science behind the claims. Then they look at your specific injury documentation and where you fit. Because of how these settlements are structured, funding is sometimes available even before your individual case value is finalized.
Who tends to qualify
Plaintiffs with documented injuries in an established tort, represented by counsel, in litigation that's far enough along to have some shape to it. If your claim is tied to a defective product specifically, our product liability funding page is a useful companion read, along with what cases qualify for funding.
Frequently asked questions
Often, yes. In established mass torts with a settlement framework in place, funders can sometimes advance money based on the litigation's trajectory and your documented injury, even before your specific number is final.
It's a representative case tried early to test how juries respond to the evidence. Bellwether results heavily influence the settlement negotiations for the rest of the plaintiffs.
They're related but not identical. Mass torts keep claims individual within consolidated litigation; class actions treat plaintiffs as one group. Both can sometimes be funded, evaluated case by case.
Years, frequently. The multi-stage structure and sheer scale mean these are among the slowest cases to pay out, which is exactly why funding is useful.