Arguing Class Actions: Ringing the Bellwether—A Better Approach to Complex Multidistrict Litigation
Arguing Class Actions is a monthly column by Adam J. Levitt for the National Law Journal.
August 05, 2024 at 06:00 AM
7 minute read
CommentaryMultidistrict litigations are usually complex and often very expensive. A "typical" MDL progresses as follows: cases alleging similar misconduct by the same defendant (or defendants) are filed in various courts across the United States. Following motion practice, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decides whether to transfer and centralize those cases for all pretrial purposes, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. Should the JPML rule in favor of transfer, the cases are transferred to and centralized in a single federal court for determination of pretrial issues. The transferee court then appoints plaintiffs' lead counsel, followed by the plaintiffs filing their master complaint, which the defendants almost inevitably (some might say reflexively) move to dismiss. Assuming that the transferee court sustains the complaint, pretrial issues (including, as applicable, class certification) through summary judgment are handled by the transferee court; and, finally, if there isn't a global settlement or dismissal on summary judgment, the MDL end-game proceeds in a series of "bellwethers"—trials either in the transferee court or back in the originating courts across the U.S. that, in theory, provide clarity to the parties regarding the merits of the case and help to determine the ultimate parameters for a global resolution.
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