A Pierringer agreement is used when a company wishes to structure a settlement into its litigation strategy. Typically, this type of agreement will allocate the case to Joint and Several Liability with only the proposed master defendant remaining. This type of agreement acts as a device to limit risk when a company is defending several parties in a case, or when there is a concern that one party will not have the resources necessary to make an adequate payment. A Pierringer Agreement may be relatively uncommon outside the field of medicine or healthcare, the concept of multi-party disputes is common in many industries. For instance, if you are a toxicology consultant, you may also subcontract with laboratories for drug testing. As such, you may be defending a lab that has undergone litigation and concerns about the dispute allocation. The plaintiff may have sued for almost every entity in the business chain, from the client to the subcontractor. There is also the risk that one of the parties will not have sufficient assets to make an appropriate settlement. A joint & several agreement allows you to expose and share the risk to defend multiple parties and allows all parties to obtain a settlement or judgment. A joint & several agreement creates an incentive for each party to settle. For example, a plaintiff may be the most aggressive of several defendants. If that defendant makes an adequate settlement, the plaintiff will be less likely to pursue the other defendants. The joint liability will also encourage the plaintiff to join in early settlements. The Contrary is true for initial settlements in disputes where the damage or risk is leading to a lapse of a statute limitation. For example, if an individual is in the process of seeking to file a lawsuit but there is insufficient evidence, a pierringer agreement will allow the suit to be filed and to later negotiate a settlement. If you have a joint liability, you will have to allocate the costs of the litigation. You will be expected to defend a unitary and indivisible interest. In the event that your co-defendant is found liable for the entire damage award, you will be required to allocate the damages. For example, if the claim is $ 100,000 and your co-defendant is found liable for $ 80,000, you will be expected to pay 20% ($ 20,000) of the damages. This will prevent the plaintiff from recovering more than the $ 100,000 amount. When used strategically, a pierringer agreement alberta can offer a number of advantages for a toxicology consulting firm. It can facilitate the efficient execution of studies and allocate resources and liabilities in a manner that is in alignment with the study aims. For advice about how a pierringer agreement alberta may be beneficial for your business, contact TigerTox.