A lot of federal class motion circumstances involving companies shut down from the COVID-19 disaster have resulted in requests for federal circumstances to be consolidated to 1 courtroom The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will determine if that may occur.
Right here is how the Panelâs web site explains MDL:
We beforehand famous that attorneys would file petitions to switch federal circumstances for trial consolidation earlier than one courtroom in, Coronavirus Insurance coverage Protection Replace April 22âRight here Come The Mass Tort Attorneys!
Since then, there have been extra class actions filed. Some petitions have been amended. One petition even asks for expedited ruling on the difficulty whereas an insurer has requested for an extension to reply since they’ve simply been retained and haven’t even had counsel file notices of look within the circumstances.
Will the federal circumstances be given MDL therapy? I have no idea. Nevertheless, I’ve had fairly a couple of attorneys argue for and in opposition to the advantages of getting MDL therapy in these circumstances. Some policyholder attorneys have even instructed that they might aspect with the insurance coverage firms, assuming insurers are going to oppose these petitions.
When will we discover out? The present listening to date of the MDL panel is on Might 28th in Washington, DC, and the one after is on July 30<sup<th
in Boston. None of the present COCID-19 circumstances are included on the Might docket.