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Multidistrict Litigation Overview
Multidistrict litigation, or an MDL, is the legal term used to describe the consolidation of similar lawsuits affecting large numbers of people into one legal action.
The multidistrict litigation process was created in 1968 in order to better handle certain types of lawsuits. An MDL can resolve a number of lawsuits and ensure that the ruling is consistent and more efficient than if each lawsuit was handled separately.
MDLs are useful when lawsuits involve complex legal issues and the outcome of the cases will affect many people. These lawsuits are considered civil, rather than criminal, cases and often involve defective consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and even plane crashes. Often, when several class action lawsuits are filed over the same legal issue, these cases will be consolidated into an MDL.
Multidistrict Litigation Process
According to Cornell Law School’s legal dictionary, multidistrict litigation refers to “[a] federal case management procedure in which a federal panel transfers several (or many) complex civil cases involving one or more common questions of fact to one federal district court (called the MDL court).”
The federal panel that handles MDLs is called the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. The panel refers to the judges that determine when a set of lawsuits should enter into the MDL process and then coordinates proceedings, settlements, and dismissals.
Currently, the MDL Judicial Panel is made up of seven federal judges from across the nation. In order for a set of lawsuits to be organized into multidistrict litigation, the cases must share common questions of fact. Questions of fact have to do with the evidence in the proceeding, for example, whether the plaintiffs all experienced the same defective product or even the same cause of the defect in the product that is the subject of the lawsuits.
Common questions of fact are determined by the evidence present in a lawsuit. Evidence is investigated by each party to a lawsuit during the discovery phase. This allows each side to examine the evidence or proof their opponent has to support their case.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict litigation will look at the evidence and determine whether an MDL is appropriate for a set of lawsuits. If the Panel determines that an MDL is appropriate, the cases will be transferred to a single federal venue or court to handle the proceedings.
Transferring similar lawsuits into one proceeding has a number of benefits. Discovery is generally cheaper and easier, for example, as the witnesses in the lawsuit need only be deposed or interviewed once, rather than for each lawsuit in the MDL. This also reduces the chance that the witness gives contradictory or inconsistent answers as well.
Multidistrict litigation is not without its challenges, however. The U.S. Panel on Multidistrict Litigation acknowledges that communication can be an issue when it comes to multiple attorneys, courts, and judges involved in the process.
As noted above, lawsuits consolidated into an MDL benefit from consistent rulings and outcomes for the parties as well.
Once lawsuits are consolidated into an MDL, an MDL judge will handle pretrial actions, discovery, and settlement offers. The course of litigation will cover all the lawsuits in the MDL. Further lawsuits may also be added to the MDL if they come up later in the proceedings. Should the MDL go to trial, the trial will take place in the original court where they were first filed.
What Are Some Current MDLs?
There are a number of high profile MDLs working their way through the court system right now. These include consumer product class action lawsuits and drug lawsuits.
Both Johnson & Johnson and Bayer have been hit with MDLs over certain consumer products. Johnson & Johnson has been accused of failing to disclose that its baby powder products can potentially cause cancer.
Bayer, the company that recently acquired Monsanto, is faced with allegations that the weed killer Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but the link was hidden from the public who were told that the product was safe.
An MDL has been formed concerning allegedly severe side effects in kids who were prescribed Risperdal. Plaintiffs from across the nation say that they and their parents were not informed that the mood-altering drug could cause weight gain and even male breast development as they grew.
