Do I qualify for a mass tort?

Filter 1 — Exposure

You used the product during the relevant period. Documentation varies by case type:

• Prescription drugs: Pharmacy records, prescribing physician's chart, insurance claim history. Pharmacies typically retain records 7–10 years; some go longer.
• Implanted devices: Operative report, implant card, device sticker in chart, hospital implant log. Most hospitals can produce these from electronic records.
• Consumer products: Receipts, credit card statements, photographs of use, witness testimony. Standards are looser but documentation strengthens the case.
• Environmental exposure: Employment records, residence records, water-system service area documentation, military service records.

Filter 2 — Injury

Your medical diagnosis appears on the MDL's qualifying-injury list. Each MDL defines its own list, typically through the master long-form complaint and the plaintiff fact sheet. Common patterns:

• Specific diagnoses required. Most pharma and device MDLs require a specific ICD diagnosis (e.g., for hip implants, certain failure modes; for drugs, certain cardiovascular or oncologic outcomes).
• Severity tiers. Higher-severity diagnoses qualify for higher tier values. Death, surgery, and hospitalization typically anchor the top tiers.
• Latency window. Some MDLs require the diagnosis to have occurred within a defined window after exposure to support causation.
• Excluded diagnoses. Some conditions are explicitly excluded as not causally linked to the product.

Filter 3 — Timing

Your claim is within the statute of limitations measured from when you discovered the injury (in discovery-rule states) or from the injury itself (in occurrence-rule states), and is not barred by a statute of repose.

• Discovery rule: Clock starts when you discovered (or should have discovered) the injury and its connection to the product. Most courts treat the diagnosis date or the first published association as the trigger.
• Statute of repose: Hard cutoff from date of sale, particularly in product cases. Can bar claims that are timely under the discovery rule.
• Federal Tort Claims Act: For government-defendant cases (military exposure, VA care), 2-year administrative claim plus 6-month suit deadline after denial.
• Bankruptcy reorganization: Defendants in bankruptcy often have separate bar dates for filing claims; missing the bar date in bankruptcy may foreclose recovery.

What disqualifies most often

• Diagnosis outside the qualifying-injury list.
• Inability to document product use.
• Statute of limitations expired with no discovery-rule extension.
• Confounding alternative causes (e.g., long smoking history in a lung-injury case).
• Insufficient injury severity to clear the lowest tier.

What to do

1. Identify the product, the period of use, and the specific diagnosis.
2. Pull supporting documentation (pharmacy, hospital, employer, receipts).
3. Check the JPML pending-MDL summary for the matching case.
4. Consult intake counsel for the MDL's qualifying criteria.
5. Move within the statute of limitations measured from discovery in your state.