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You've been taking a prescription medication and you suffered an injury. And you want to
know do you bring a lawsuit as a part of a class action or do you bring it as a private
lawsuit? Hi. My name is Peter Brodhead. I'm a lawyer who handles defective drug and medical
device liability claims. The answer to the question is it's best for you -- in almost
all cases -- to file an individual lawsuit. There are two strong reasons for this. The
first has to do with you, the second has to do with the law. Let's talk about you first.
You and the circumstances behind you having been prescribed a drug, what you took it for,
what injury you may have suffered, the consequences that have resulted for you and your life and
for your family and the overall damages that you are entitled to recover are probably unique.
Odds are there is no one just like you and you deserve to have your lawsuit brought as
an individual claim. The second major issue has to do with the law. Now, most states have
particular laws about what you need to prove in order to bring a defective drug injury
claim. They have different statutes of limitations. They have different facts that you have to
prove in order for you to be successful. They have caps on damages where some states have
no caps on damages. The point is that there's such a difference in laws across the 50 states
that most courts that have been asked to consolidate these cases as class actions have said no.
There are too many differences and it's really impossible to satisfy all of the legal issues
that are concerned. So at the end of the day, the best option for you in most cases is to
file an individual lawsuit. Now this does not mean that a class action is never appropriate,
there are some rare instances in which it is. These usually have to do, however, with
cases where the defendant drug maker has very significant liability and insufficient resources
to pay the damages that it owes. And also you should know that just because the best
option for you is to file an individual lawsuit doesn't mean that it needs to be expensive,
inefficient or uneconomical. In fact, there are many ways that individual lawsuits can
be brought very efficiently and economically. I speak with clients about this every day.
If you have any questions, pick up the phone and give me a call.