Mississippi Class Actions and the Inevitability of Mass Aggregate Litigation

Mississippi College Law Review, Forthcoming

Seton Hall Public Law Research Paper No. 30

35 Pages Posted: 8 Mar 2005

Abstract

Mass disputes happen, and lawyers on both sides handle such matters collectively rather than individually. With or without the judicial imprimatur of class certification, multi-claimant disputes routinely are litigated and resolved on a collective basis. Mississippi declined to adopt a class action rule in order to avoid the burdens, controversies, and complexities of mass aggregate litigation, but mass aggregate litigation in Mississippi happened anyway. The real question is not whether there will be mass litigation, but whether it will be subject to formal safeguards and judicial supervision. This article explains why Mississippi needs a class action rule by comparing the class action to its realistic alternatives. The Mississippi experience confirms that a prohibition on class actions channels mass disputes into other modes of formal and informal aggregate dispute resolution, some of which are inferior mechanisms to class actions for resolving mass disputes.

Keywords: class action, Mississippi, aggregation, mass tort, joinder, litigation

JEL Classification: K40, K41

Suggested Citation

Erichson, Howard M., Mississippi Class Actions and the Inevitability of Mass Aggregate Litigation. Mississippi College Law Review, Forthcoming, Seton Hall Public Law Research Paper No. 30, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=679034

Howard M. Erichson (Contact Author)

Fordham University School of Law ( email )

150 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
United States
646-312-8233 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
146
Abstract Views
2,977
Rank
360,858
PlumX Metrics