A little over five years ago, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation gave Federal Judge Richard Gergel of South Carolina the burden of disposing of any cases “alleg[ing] that AFFF products used at airports, military...more
On February 5, 2024, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments on the challenge to the “Private Funds Rules” issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The...more
Seeking to bolster the independence of administrative patent judge (APJ) panels when issuing decisions and increase transparency regarding Patent Trial & Appeal Board processes, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a...more
Prior to the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act—which was signed into US law on December 29, 2022 as part of the omnibus spending bill—the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) had the power to transfer and...more
The JPML held its second hearing of 2022 at the end of March. We addressed the results of the first hearing recently here, and further observed the JPML’s trend over the course of the last several years in forming fewer MDL...more
Centralization of claims in multidistrict litigation has become the new normal—so much so, that MDL proceedings now comprise more than 50 percent of the federal civil caseload. But has MDL practice in the United States...more
In the wake of government shutdowns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, insureds filed business-interruption and other claims with their commercial-liability insurers. As insurers denied those claims, insureds filed suit,...more
Welcome back to the Class Action & MDL Roundup! Our summer edition covers notable class actions from the second quarter of 2020. In this edition, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) weighed in on several...more
In four separate decisions issued on August 5, 2020, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation declined to consolidate for pretrial purposes dozens of actions against national banks arising from their roles as...more
This morning a hearing was held via Zoom before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) addressing whether the hundreds of COVID-19 coverage actions, pending in federal courts far and wide, should all be...more
Insurers nationwide are awaiting the forthcoming decision of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on consolidating COVID-19 business interruption coverage lawsuits. In the meantime, some federal courts are...more
The next hearing session of the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) is scheduled for May 28, 2020. In light of the Covid pandemic, all oral arguments are scheduled to be completed virtually by...more
Honor and Protect Our Soldiers - Tales of corporate wrongdoing have pervaded society for decades. Take the Takata airbag scandal, in which a Japanese manufacturer of the automobile-safety device churned out tens of...more