Taking a Look at Recent Mass Torts Settlements
In a panel titled “Getting Paid: A Breakdown of Recent Settlements”, Max Doyle, Chief Strategy Officer at Consumer Attorney Marketing Group moderated a panel between Sam Dolce, Vice President at Milestone, Jennifer Hoekstra, Partner at Aylstock, Witkin, Kries & Overholtz, Michael London, Founding Partner, at Douglas & London, and Eamon Walsh, President of North America at Advoc8se.
Jennifer Hoekstra began the conversation by offering a broad overview of the mass torts space, the types of cases that make their way through the sector, and the various case durations spanning the rare rapid recovery on one end of the spectrum, and the decade-long battle royal on the other end.
Michael London commented on the 3M claim, where they faced a massive 10-figure judgement and just days later declared bankruptcy. He then mused about tobacco cases, how "if you want to make it onto the front page of the New York Times, you try tobacco cases. If you never want to get paid, you try tobacco cases."
London then recounted war stories around lifestyle products, including several pharmaceutical companies which settled claims there their drugs contained symptoms that were not listed on the label, mesh cases, firefighting foam cases, 3M cases, etc. "There's always going to be something. Wait, keep your powder dry, and don't chase the marketer. Just use the smell test and common sense test of what makes sense."
Sam Dolce represents Milestone, a claims administrator, which helps people get paid. He spoke to administrative duration, which occurs on the backend of a litigation, and can be as much as months or even years before the payments actually go out. Milestone streamlines those processes so everyone gets paid much faster. Many top tier mass torts firms have not optimized their settlement duration procedures, so they are missing out on efficiencies once the case concludes.
Eamon Walsh points out that funders should have a robust checklist which scores everything from origination to settlement administration. That gives way to a secondary market where you can trade things more easily, and also makes you feel bulletproof in the sense that when you get to the negotiating table, you aren't suffering from the Achilles heel of incomplete information.
Sam Dolce added that firms that take the time to build the payment infrastructure can maximize efficiencies on the backend. Law firms should have workflows built into their business the way any other business would, and funders should look to fund such law firms. Every law firm is a business, after all.
Jennifer Hoekstra added that the individual you may be speaking with when interacting with a law firm might not know all the details of a case, but the firm knows all the details (someone else at the firm can answer those questions), so don't get put off if the individual you're speaking with doesn't have all of the answers off-hand.
Michael London spoke to the 3M verdicts which saw 8-figure verdict after 8-figure verdict, which 3M kept fighting and losing. In other cases, the defendant can't write a check quickly enough, so it depends on the defendant and how much pressure you can put on them, and whether they are eager to reach a resolution or not.
London also noted that the Bayer Monsanto claim is a $10 billion liability that keeps getting bigger. Yet London noted he believes there may be a pause in Bayer paying out its claims. "At some point you've got to let that golden goose take a break from laying its eggs, and let that company stay alive."
Finally, Sam Dolce recommended that investors in the space look to the firms who are already succeeding and investigate what is working for them. Don't make the mistake of looking at the aggregate payouts - some firms get very large checks while others do not. Understand what separates the most talented firms from those in the second and third tiers.
Jennifer Hoekstra echoed that sentiment. "I keep my ear to the ground on projects I don't work on. I look at everything across the board, even if we're not involved with it." Looking at cases that aren't moving forward towards a rapid settlement can give you an idea of what types of cases aren't working. If timelines and milestones aren't being met, then defendants won't feel pressured to reach settlements.
In other words, do your homework before embarking on investment within this very complex sector.
