RESOURCES
LCJ Proposal & Other Comments
MDL Practices and the Need for FRCP Amendments
Proposals for Discussion with the MDL/TPLF Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules
​
September 14, 2018
Comment to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and its MDL/TPLF Subcommittee
Ten Observations About the MDL/TPLF Subcommittee’s Examination into the Function of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in Cases Consolidated for Pretrial Proceedings
​
April 6, 2018
Request for Rulemaking to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules
Rules for "All Civil Actions and Proceedings": A Call to Bring Cases Consolidated for Pretrial Proceedings Back Within The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
​
August 10, 2017
Reports & Testimonies
MDL Imbalance: Why Defendants Need Timely Access To Interlocutory Review
​
U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform​
​
April 24, 2019
Third Party Litigation Funding - Civil Justice and the Need for Transparency
​
A Report by DRI
​
October 17, 2018
Survey of Federal and State Disclosure Rules Regarding
Litigation Funding
Patrick A. Tighe, Rules Law Clerk​
​
February 7, 2018
IN RE: Mentor Corp. Obtape Transobturator Sling Products Liability Litigation
In the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia Columbus Division
​
September 7, 2016
Testimony of John H. Beisner Before the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate
The Impact of Lawsuit Abuse on American Small Businesses and Job Creators
​
November 8, 2017
Bad for Your Health: Lawsuit Advertising Implications and Solutions
U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform
​
October 2017
​
Martin H. Redish & Julie M. Karaba, Northwestern University School of Law
​
September 22, 2014
Case Studies
Case Study: Vioxx MDL and Settlement
Currently, rules and procedures in multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases are largely subject to the individual discretion and experience of the assigned judge, leading to inconsistencies across cases. In many MDL cases, there is no pretrial testing of claims, as the existing mechanism to do so in the Federal Rules for Civil Procedure (FRCP) is not practical at a large scale.
Case Study: Phenylpropanolamine Product Liability (PPA) MDL
Today, procedures in multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases are largely subject to the individual discretion and experience of the assigned judge, rather than rules, which leads to inconsistencies across MDLs. In many MDL cases, there is no pretrial testing of claims, as the existing mechanism to do so in the Federal Rules for Civil Procedure (FRCP) is not always practical in MDLs, which can have hundreds or even thousands of cases.
Fact Sheet
Why Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Need to Be Designed to Apply to Multidistrict Litigation Cases
The Federal Civil Caseload is Concentrated in MDLs: As of September 30, 2018, there were 301,766 civil cases pending in the federal district court system. Of those, 156,511 cases sat within 248 MDLs and accounted for 51.9 percent of federal civil cases.
