Public Nuisance

In "Public Nuisance," Linda Mullenix describes the landscape of 21st-century mass tort litigation involving public harms, including lead paint, opioids, firearms, e-cigarettes, climate change, and environmental pollution. She explores the novel theory of public nuisance that lawyers and local governments have used to seek compensation from those responsible for creating public nuisances. The book surveys conflicting judicial decisions rooted in common law and statutory interpretation and evaluates the competing arguments for and against the expansion of public nuisance law. Mullenix argues that the development of public nuisance theory is part of the historical arc of mass tort litigation and suggests a middle approach to new public nuisance law, advocating for the embrace of both common law and legislated public nuisance statutes.