Posts Tagged ‘ MDL ’

How an MDL Class Action is like Super Target

August 25th, 2009. By AbiK

There’s been a lot of talk about multi-district litigation, or MDL, lately. Thanks to the coverage of the Chinese drywall situation, the term “MDL” has shown up more in the news. But what is an MDL? Pleading Ignorance takes a look at MDL, with some insight from attorney Gary Mason—one of 50 lawyers who’s been assigned to work on the Chinese drywall case. So…

What is Multi-District Litigation (MDL)?

I like to think of it as going to a ramped up big-box retailer (like Super Target) vs. hitting a drug store, bakery, deli, grocery store and say, Old Navy, in separate trips. The consolidated Super Target just makes it easier to get what I want and need—that’s kind of the point behind an MDL.

MDL, or mulit-district litigation, allows for common issues that are part of many claims across multiple districts in a class action to be consolidated in one court for pre-trial proceedings. A judicial panel decides whether a case can be consolidated—so a group of lawyers can’t just decide on their own to consolidate things—it needs to be approved. Read the rest of this entry »

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