What is the highest payout of a class action lawsuit?

Collective actions can be brought with groups of people suffering the same harm to pursue a single case. Such funds in those situations can be in the millions since they have to be distributed to the large number of plaintiffs. The largest pot among the last few drawings has been over $20 billion.

 

The largest class action settlement till date is the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement between of the largest tobacco players and 46 U.S. states. The tobacco companies signed on to pay a minimum of $206 billion as part of a settlement that would cover all medically-related costs incurred as a result of smoking. This happened despite hiring the best class action defense attorney. Arguably the most memorable part of this case is not only its colossal total amount but also the issues it dealt with, mainly concerning the whole nation either directly or indirectly.

 

In the second place comes the $20.8 billion settlement arranged in April 2022 between a coalition state attorneys and the three main distributors, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, for their share in the U.S. opioid crisis. The rolling out of money will be to invest in treatment and prevention programs in the communities that are facing such a challenge. Around 3000 plaintiffs from different government branches, local and state, joined the case.

 

Other notable high-value class action settlements include:

 

• $9.3 billion settlement in 2021 when the Merck-sided patients claimed Vioxx to have had harmful side effects and the drug was removed from the market by the Food and Drug Administration.

 

• The US government was awarded a $9.25 billion settlement in the 2021 federal antitrust case with credit card companies for merchant fees overcharging.

 

• A settlement worth $7.8 billion was made in 2016 between the Director of Volkswagen and the car owners who were affected by a software used in their diesel vehicles to cheat emissions.

 

As this examples tell, if a multi-national corporation is found to be liable for a consumer injury of a certain severity, the money settlements from the litigation will set precedence in the amount and total compensation. The biggest class actions can leave behind damages totaling more than tens of billion and affect victims to the number of millions. Up to that point, the polls are the one-way of going, and as far as the cases of the very wealthy industries, they keep growing.

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