The Need for Rational Boundaries in Civil Conspiracy Claims
I. INTRODUCTION
“The actuality or imminent probability of bankruptcy has increasingly come to dominate most mass tort, or at least mega-mass tort, litigation.” As a result, plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking to find substitute or supplemental “deep pockets” for their clients have focused their creative energies on pursuing secondary or peripheral sources of recovery in many mass tort cases. Civil conspiracy claims are an example.
“Recently, civil conspiracy has become a favored weapon of plaintiffs’ lawyers in mass tort product liability litigation involving asbestos, breast implants, tobacco, automotive tires and other products, as well as in toxic tort cases.” Civil conspiracy claims are often asserted by plaintiffs to allege the liability of peripheral defendants based on their associations with the party primarily responsible for the allegedly injurious product the manufacturer such as through membership in a relevant industry or trade association.
“The major significance of a conspiracy [claim] lies in the fact that it...