This is a basic intro to what a mass tort is for non-lawyers and law students alike!

Procedural justice isn’t about who wins or loses. It's about whether people are heard, respected, and treated with dignity by the system deciding their lives. For nearly 25 years, Patricia Ryan and Kristen Breitweiser, widows and heirs of those murdered on September 11, 2001, have been navigating court proceedings that too often sidelined them. In December 2025, they finally placed their concerns on the public docket—documenting long-standing issues of voice, transparency, and conflicts of...

Words have power. In courtrooms, they document wrongdoing and immortalize truth in public records. When plaintiffs tell their stories before judges and juries, something profound happens—they feel heard and respected. Study after study confirms this: people who get voice opportunities view procedures as more neutral, trust decisionmakers more, and feel treated with respect. But in mass torts? That voice is systematically silenced. From my co-authored study of MDL plaintiffs, participants...