Image by amayzun via FlickrOn the basis of the papers filed and hearing session held, the Panel has decided to defer its decision on this Section 1407 motion pending further argument at the July 2011 Panel hearing session. Moving and responding plaintiffs and defendants have made persuasive arguments for and against centralization.
Since this Section 1407 motion was filed on December 15, 2010,less than two weeks after the first case commenced, this litigation has grown from four actions involving one defendant to encompass eighteen currently known actions involving more than a dozen different defendants. Consideration of this Section 1407 motion so soon after a handful of actions were filed, where the contours of the litigation are in flux, leaves the Panel with less than ideal information to make the best possible decision. For example, most of the known parties in this litigation, including ten of the thirteen defendants, have not had an opportunity to express their views on the merits of Section 1407 centralization. This is a potentially complex case. Our desire to make the most informed possible decision counsels further deliberation.
With these considerations in mind, the Panel will issue a show cause order setting forth an additional briefing schedule, and further argument for our July 2011 Panel hearing session. While deferring our ruling does delay the Panel’s decision-making process, in the interim, these cases can proceed in the transferor courts. See Panel Rule 2.1(d). In the longer term, this continuation will assure that all parties have an opportunity to be heard, enhance our decision-making process, and should not prejudice the benefits of centralization, if that is our ultimate judgment.
Find the Order here: http://www.jpml.uscourts.gov/Panel_Orders/panel_orders.html
