The NAM filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant cert to define the due process limits on the joinder of claims in civil trials. In this case, a Missouri trial court consolidated 22 personal injury plaintiffs’ claims arising under 12 different states’ laws for a single trial; the result was a staggering $2B verdict, with the jury awarding an identical $25M in compensatory damages to each of the 22 plaintiffs—despite widely varying injuries—and $1.6B in punitive damages. The court erroneously concluded, and the appellate court affirmed, that any prejudice to the defendant was adequately mitigated by hours-long instructions to the jury that it decide each plaintiff’s claim on its own merits.
The NAM’s brief explains that improper joinder of civil cases for trial favors plaintiffs through the repetition of fact patterns and claims, compromises the defendant’s ability to present individual issues, and allows plaintiffs to present a composite picture that obscures weaknesses in individual claims. The Supreme Court’s intervention is needed to prevent further abuses of this procedural device by the plaintiffs’ bar. Unfortunately, on June 1, 2021, the Court denied review.