A Lone Pine order is a case management tool that takes its name from a 1986 environmental mass tort case in which a New Jersey court required the plaintiffs to substantiate their allegations of personal injury, property damage and causation before proceeding with discovery.¹ Principally because of the suspect nature of the plaintiffs’ claims, the Lone Pine court placed a threshold burden on them to present prima facie evidence of injury and causation, which should have been evident from their pre-suit investigation.² When the plaintiffs failed to meet this burden, the court dismissed their claims.³ By creating this hurdle, the court limited the ability of plaintiffs to use mass tort litigation as a tactical means of extracting an unmerited settlement.⁴

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_{^{1 Lore v. Lone Pine Corp., No. L-33606-85, 1986 WL 637507 (N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div. Nov. 18, 1986).}}

_{^{2 Id. at *4.}}

_{^{3 Id. at *2.}}

_{^{4 Id. at *4.}}