Welcome to the latest installment of And Now a Word From the
Panel, a column which "rides the circuit" with the
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation as it meets on a
bimonthly basis at venues around the country.
As the panel heads to the "Big Easy" (New Orleans)
– the home court of the panel chair (Judge Sarah Vance)
– for its May 30 hearing session, the panel's docket has
picked up the pace from a relatively sluggish opening to 2019. The
panel will now consider seven new MDL petitions, bringing to 17 the
total number of MDL motions considered by the panel this year, with
three hearing sessions remaining.
But, as previously noted, regardless of the number of motions
and MDL proceedings, the number of actions within the pending MDLs
are staggering.
