The American Law Institute (ALI), the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize and improve the law, today announced that the highly-anticipated Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation is now available. Containing chapters on definitions and general principles, aggregate adjudication and aggregate settlements, this volume aims to supply up-to-date coherence to the law of aggregate litigation, a field that has changed significantly in recent years.
The text provides an overview of mass disputes in modern society and discusses key concepts in this field, which are divided into three sections. The first section details class action lawsuits and how they should be decided correctly. The second section discusses a broader array of cases that are bundled and tried together, a concept that has garnered no formal analysis prior to this project. The third section examines the ethical arrangements for settlement of mass disputes.
Samuel Issacharoff, a professor at the New York University School of Law, served as the Reporter for this publication. Robert H. Klonoff, Dean of Lewis & Clark Law School, Richard A. Nagareda, a professor at Vanderbilt University Law School, and Charles Silver, a professor at University of Texas School of Law served as Associate Reporters. The Reporters also attained the close review of a diverse group of Advisers expert in the field and of ALI’s Members Consultative Group for the project.
“This is the first body of proposals that aims to organize and clarify the way the American legal system deals with mass disputes. No systematic review of these types of cases existed before” said Issacharoff. “As an increasing number of countries around the world are beginning to deal with aggregate cases for the first time, this text will serve as a valuable resource and model in navigating this crucial field.”
This authoritative volume combines clear black-letter provisions with extensive explanatory Comments, clarifying Illustrations and detailed Reporters’ Notes. The Comments thoroughly explain the background, rationale and applicability of the blackletter provisions, while the Reporters’ Notes document and discuss the sources for the black letter and Comments and provide a convenient basis for further research. The text is further enhanced by tables of cases and statutes, appendices and an index.