JPML Declines to Consolidate Metoclopramide Litigation
Some have expressed the sentiment that the the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation always grants requests for MDL status. In reality, that is not the case, although opposition to MDL status can be an uphill battle in burgeoning mass torts. (FYI Volume 82, Number 6 (June 2008) issue of the Tulane Law Review is devoted to "The Problem of Multidistrict Litigation." )
The JPML recently declined to consolidate federal litigation involving the heartburn medication metoclopramide, finding that the pending actions do not share sufficient factual issues concerning whether the drug causes neurological injuries. (In re Reglan/Metoclopramide Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2049, 6/3/09).
The Panel was not persuaded that Section 1407 centralization would serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses or further the just and efficient conduct of this litigation at the present time. The eleven actions at issue did share some factual issues as to whether the drug metoclopramide causes neurological injuries (principally, tardive dyskinesia). But there is no single common defendant, and some entities, are named in only one or two actions. Moreover, several of the actions appear to be substantially more advanced (five were commenced in either 2006 or 2007). Metoclopramide litigation thus has a somewhat lengthy history, and the record indicates that a significant amount of the common discovery has already taken place in some cases. The proponents of centralization failed to convince the Panel that any remaining common questions of fact among these actions are sufficiently complex and/or numerous to justify Section 1407 transfer at this time. Alternatives to transfer exist that may minimize whatever possibilities there might be of duplicative discovery and/or inconsistent pretrial rulings, concluded the Panel.
