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ARTICLE · 06 DECEMBER 2016

And Now A Word From The Panel: MDL Venue Choices

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Time and again, the panel has premised its selection of an MDL venue on the ground that a party's headquarters are located in or near that venue.

United StatesConsumer Protection
Alan Rothman
Alan Rothman
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Welcome to the latest installment of "And Now a Word from the Panel," a bimonthly column which "rides the circuit" with the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation as it meets at venues around the country.

As we close out the calendar year and this column's fourth year, the panel moves from our nation's capital to "the Queen City," Charlotte, North Carolina, for its Dec. 1 hearing session.

At its September hearing session in DC, the panel created a host of new MDL proceedings, granting a whopping nine of the thirteen MDL petitions that it considered at that hearing session—batting .692 for the session. This represented a change in course for the panel, which until September had created only 14 new MDLs for the entire year!

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