Georgia Law Prof Launches Study on Litigant Satisfaction in Women's Health MDLs
University of Georgia School of Law professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch is performing a study focusing on women's health MDLs, including the pelvic mesh litigation, the talc litigation and the litigations involving birth control drugs, like Yasmin/Yaz.
December 17, 2018 at 02:39 PM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Many law review articles have been written about the procedural challenges for lawyers and judges when it comes to handling multidistrict litigation, but few studies have focused on what hurdles litigants may face when their cases are part of large consolidated actions.
One law professor is looking to change that with a study she is undertaking that seeks to hear from litigants who have brought a claim through the MDL process.
University of Georgia School of Law professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch is performing a study focusing on women's health MDLs, including the pelvic mesh litigation, the talc litigation and the litigations involving birth control drugs, like Yasmin/Yaz. The study consists of a questionnaire meant to gauge the satisfaction of litigants when it comes to the various aspects of the system they may have interacted with, such as judges, lawyers or third-party litigation funders. Burch has set Jan. 8 as the deadline for litigants to take part in the survey.
According to Burch, the last study done focusing on the experience of the plaintiffs in mass litigations was done in 1989. Although her study is focusing on products that deal with women's health issues, she said the narrow focus should give insight into the satisfaction of plaintiffs in MDLs as a whole.
“It just struck me that there are so many products aimed at women,” she said.
Burch said the study is designed somewhat like a customer satisfaction survey, but aimed at the civil justice system at large. The questionnaire, Burch said, branches off like a choose-your-own adventure story, where the questions are tailored to gauge the satisfaction at each possible twist that a case can take, like whether the litigant ever appeared before the judge, whether their case was referred to multiple attorneys, whether third-party financial agreements were involved and whether the litigant had to go through a post-settlement claims administration process.
“The hope is to figure out if we can pinpoint the satisfaction, or dissatisfaction,” she said. ”I really don't want to just get people who are disgruntled. If there are aspects people are happy about, I absolutely want to know that.”
In the short term, Burch said she is hoping the research will lead to a law review article, but in the long term, she said she hopes the research serves as a launching pad for a larger in-depth study that will become a book.
However, Burch said she has run into difficulty so far, both from lawyers and from the litigants, when it comes to participation. Some litigants, she said, are suspicious and have accused her of working with or being funded by attorneys involved in the litigation. The project, she said, is being funded entirely by the university. Attorneys, she said, also haven't appeared eager to pass the word along about the study.
“Nobody really wants you to look under the hood. Nobody much has an incentive to get people to participate,” she said.
A glance into the social media pages dedicated to women who underwent pelvic mesh procedures might give some indication why, as many commenters report difficulty getting in touch with attorneys and feeling largely left out of the process. An attorney involved in the pelvic mesh litigation also recently took the unusual step of criticizing several of his colleagues, accusing them of taking on more cases than they could handle and then settling the cases for cheap.
Although many complaints express dissatisfaction with the system as a whole, Burch said she hopes the study will help tease out exactly where the problem areas might be.
With more than 100,000 women involved at its peak, the pelvic mesh MDL was one of the largest consolidated actions ever, according to mass tort attorneys. It is far from the first large-scale litigation where claimants have been openly frustrated with the system—in particular, the $1 billion class settlement the NFL reached regarding former players with concussion-related injuries has also recently come under scrutiny.
When asked whether dissatisfaction typically always increases the larger the litigation is, or whether dissatisfaction appears to be increasing on the whole, Burch said she can't say for sure, but the study may help provide an answer in the future.
“We don't have a baseline,” Burch said. “We don't know how happy people used to be.”
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All'I Thank You': Attorney Leverages Daily Report Article to Turn $42K Offer Into $600K Settlement
7 minute readCOVID-19 Death Suit Against Nursing Home Sent to State Court, 11th Circuit Affirms
Cobb County Says Over 3K Absentee Ballots Mailed Late, Just Days Before Election
2 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
- 3Guarantees Are Back, Whether Law Firms Want to Talk About Them or Not
- 4Trump Files $10B Suit Against CBS in Amarillo Federal Court
- 5Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250