Back to Search
Start Over
Where' s the Insurance in Mass Tort Litigation?
- Source :
-
Texas Law Review . Jun2023, Vol. 101 Issue 7, p1569-1593. 25p. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Drawing on qualitative empirical research, this Article reports and explains the unusual role of insurance in mass tort litigation. In contrast to ordinary tort, corporate governance, and securities litigation: (1) mass tort plaintiff lawyers do not build their litigation and settlement strategy around defendants' liability insurance. except in the insolvency or near-insolvency context; (2) mass tort defendants typically retain control over their defense, even when they recover under insurance policies that assign the insurer control over their defense; (3) mass tort defendants typically use their own funds to settle claims, obtaining indemnification from their liability insurers. if any, later; and (4) many mass tort plaintiff law firms rely on non-recourse litigation funding that resembles the earliest forms of commercial insurance-bottomry and respondentia-and there is an emerging insurance market that reduces the cost of this funding and may one day supplant it. In addition to providing a new understanding of the role of insurance in mass tort litigation, this research provides empirical support for two of the conceptual insights in Kenneth Abraham's The Liability Century : (1) the mismatch between product liability and product liability insurance that emerged near the end of the twentieth century and (2) the increasingly insurance-like function of tort law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *MASS torts
*ACTIONS & defenses (Law)
*CORPORATE governance
*DEFENDANTS
*LAWYERS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00404411
- Volume :
- 101
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Texas Law Review
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 164967746