Food Liability Law Blog : Food Safety and Liability Lawyer & Attorney : Stoel Rives Law Firm : Food Safety, Organic Food, Recalls

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Anyone interested in trends in cross-border mass-torts litigation and the nightmare this is becoming should read a recent article in Bloomberg Law Reports entitled "Brave New World: The Dawn of Hyper-Complex Litigation"

In the article, appears the following:

"The Canadian Double-Down"

"At a January 2008 products liability symposium, a well-regarded New York City plaintiffs’ attorney stood before a room of lawyers and in-house counsel. The topic of his presentation was, in part, to forecast the next direction of mass tort litigation. His message to those listening was clear. 'Canada is next.' "

The article goes on to explain that the threshold for mass tort class actions in Canada may now be lower than in the U.S.:  "in certifying the class, the [Canadian] court was not troubled by the fact that class members could not prove a present physical injury or a 'foreseeable and recognizable psychiatric illness' as a result of the alleged product defect."

The bottom line advice in the Bloomberg article, as it has been in this blog, is that businesses (especially those in the food industry) need to continue to re-double efforts at risk avoidance and crisis management. As courts outside the U.S. become more open to mass tort claims, exposure for businesses selling products internationally only amplifies.