Millions Of Dollars Recovered For Our Clients.
Dedicated & Tenacious Litigation Lawyers in Indianapolis
When a company harms one person, that person files a lawsuit. When a company harms thousands of people in the same way, the legal system handles it differently, and the cases get big enough that most firms cannot take them on. Class actions and mass torts are the two mechanisms for holding a corporation accountable when the same defective drug, dangerous product, contaminated water supply, or unlawful business practice injured a large group of people, and the difference between the two shapes everything about how a case proceeds.
A class action consolidates the claims of an entire group into a single lawsuit with a handful of named plaintiffs standing in for everyone. Getting there requires the court to certify the class, which under both Federal Rule 23 and Indiana Trial Rule 23 means showing the group is large enough that individual suits are impractical, that the members share common legal questions, that the named plaintiffs’ claims are typical of the group, and that they and their counsel can adequately represent everyone. Certification is where most class actions are won or lost, and corporate defendants fight it hard, because defeating certification usually ends the case. The federal Class Action Fairness Act also pulls most sizable class actions into federal court, generally where the amount in controversy exceeds 5 million dollars and the parties are minimally diverse.
Mass torts work differently. Each injured person keeps their own individual case and their own individual damages, but the cases get consolidated for pretrial purposes, often into a multidistrict litigation before a single federal judge under 28 U.S.C. 1407. That judge handles discovery, expert challenges, and a set of bellwether trials that test how juries respond to the evidence, and the results tend to drive resolution across the rest of the docket. This structure is common in pharmaceutical, medical device, and toxic exposure litigation, where the science is shared across every case but the injuries are not. Indiana’s two year statute of limitations applies to these claims, though for latent injuries and toxic exposures the clock may not start until the injury and its cause were discovered or reasonably should have been.
At RileyCate, we have been on the plaintiffs’ side of this work for years, in federal courts in Indiana and elsewhere. Our attorneys have represented classes and individual claimants in pharmaceutical and prescription drug litigation, medical device cases, personal injury multidistrict litigation, financial damage class actions, fair housing litigation, and consumer and antitrust matters. We are currently involved in ongoing matters including Roundup litigation and litigation against the NCAA, and we are investigating potential claims involving Paraquat weed killer exposure and AFFF firefighting foam contamination. If you believe you were harmed by something that likely harmed others too, we want to hear about it, whether a case already exists or not.
This is not work a firm can pick up occasionally. Class certification briefing, coordinating with co-counsel across multiple districts, funding years of expert work before a dollar comes back, and understanding when a proposed settlement actually serves the class all take experience that only comes from having done it. Will Riley was named Best Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year for Mass Tort and Plaintiffs’ Class Action Litigation in Indianapolis, holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell along with Super Lawyers and Top 100 Trial Lawyers recognition, and has been recognized by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel among the nation’s top one percent of lawyers. He is admitted to practice before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and both the Southern and Northern District Courts of Indiana.
Will Riley and Russell Cate lead this work together, and both have argued before the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court, which matters in litigation where certification rulings and dismissals routinely go up on appeal. Will and Russell personally oversee every matter we take, staffing it with the attorneys, associates, and staff the case calls for based on its size and complexity. Large litigation has a way of making individual claimants feel like file numbers, and we work deliberately against that. You will be able to reach someone who knows your situation and can tell you plainly where the litigation stands.
Nobody plans to need a lawyer. When something goes wrong, what you need first is someone who will listen, tell you honestly where you stand, and take the next steps off your plate. That is how every case at RileyCate, LLC begins.
We represent individuals, families, and small businesses across Fishers, Indianapolis, and surrounding counties in personal injury and complex litigation, business and real estate disputes, criminal defense, and appeals.
Will Riley and Russell Cate personally oversee every matter, staffing each case to its size and complexity. Both are recognized as Super Lawyers and have argued before the Indiana Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. Will also holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and a Top 100 Trial Lawyer designation.
We are trial-tested, not just settlement-focused. We have tried hundreds of cases, because insurance companies, opposing businesses, and prosecutors negotiate differently with a firm willing to go the distance.
If you were injured by a defective drug or product, exposed to a harmful substance, or affected by a company’s unlawful business practice, a conversation costs you nothing. We offer a free consultation to review what happened, tell you whether existing litigation already covers it, and explain what participating would actually involve. Reach out to RileyCate today to speak with a class action and mass tort attorney about your situation.
