Volkswagen Emissions Litigation Turning Unwieldy
Chaos is building in courts across the country as about 400 Volkswagen emissions class actions have raced forward—with two federal judges ordering immediate settlement talks—despite a pending decision on whether to move the cases to multidistrict litigation.
October 29, 2015 at 03:25 PM
5 minute read
Chaos is building in courts across the country as about 400 Volkswagen emissions class actions have raced forward—with two federal judges ordering immediate settlement talks—despite a pending decision on whether to move the cases to multidistrict litigation.
One federal judge in Michigan and another in New Jersey last week appointed mediators to oversee an “expedited settlement” of cases against Volkswagen consolidated in those courts. On Oct. 28, Volkswagen confirmed in a court filing that it agreed to mediate in those courts and, in an unprecedented move, asked the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to speed up its decision about which judge should oversee all the litigation – even skip its scheduled oral arguments on Dec. 3 in New Orleans. Christopher Lebsock, a partner in the San Francisco office of Hausfeld, which wants the cases coordinated in Virginia, made a similar request before the panel on Oct. 26.
Generally, federal judges stay lawsuits that could end up in an MDL until the panel issues its ruling, typically within two weeks of oral arguments. But this time, some judges aren't waiting.
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