RESOURCES
LCJ Proposal & Other Comments
LCJ Comment on Agenda Book Version of Proposed Rule 16.1
Comment to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules
April 3, 2024
Letter from LCJ and 55 Companies on Unexamined Claims in MDLs
Letter to H. Thomas Byron III, Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules
February 16, 2024
LCJ Public Comment on Proposal Rule 16.1
LCJ Comment Letter to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules
September 18, 2023
A Possible New Rule 16.1 to Govern Early Management of Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) Proceedings
LCJ Corporate Letter to the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure
March 1, 2023
Better Information and an Earlier Start: How MDL Judges Would Benefit From a New Tool
LCJ Comment Letter to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and its MDL Subcommittee
Decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation
April 15, 2020
LCJ Comment on MDL Common Ground
LCJ Comment Letter to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and its MDL Subcommittee
September 29, 2021
What MDL Problems Need to Be Solved With Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure?
LCJ Comment Letter to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules
March 30, 2020
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
LCJ Supplementary Comment on Empirical Evidence of the Insufficient Claims Problem in MDLs
LCJ Supplementary Comment to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules
February 16, 2024
LCJ Comment Letter to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and its MDL Subcommittee
December 22, 2022
LCJ Comment Letter to the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and its MDL Subcommittee
September 9, 2020
Creating a "Negotiating Class" is Unconstitutional
LCJ files amicus brief In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation
February 13, 2020
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
IN RE: Paraquat Products Liability Litigation
United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
May 15, 2023
MDL Imbalance: Why Defendants Need Timely Access To Interlocutory Review
U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform
April 24, 2019
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
IN RE: National Prescription Opiate Litigation
United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division
February 7, 2022
Third Party Litigation Funding - Civil Justice and the Need for Transparency
A Report by DRI
October 17, 2018
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
Early Assessment Of Claims Can Help Reduce The MDL Tax
Washington Legal Foundation
March 19, 2020
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 Sheets
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, 2020, there were 521,927 civil cases pending in the federal district court system. Of those, 327,204 cases sat within 176 MDLs and accounted for 62.7 percent of federal civil cases.
