Multi-District Litigation (MDL)

<h2>MDL Overview</h2><p>Multi-district litigation (MDL) under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 allows the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to transfer civil actions involving common questions of fact to a single federal district for coordinated pretrial proceedings. MDL has become the dominant mechanism for handling mass tort and product liability litigation in federal courts.</p><h2>MDL Process</h2><ul><li><strong>Transfer:</strong> JPML transfers related cases to a single transferee judge</li><li><strong>Coordination:</strong> Transferee judge manages discovery, motions, and settlement negotiations</li><li><strong>Bellwether trials:</strong> Representative cases tried to verdict to establish case values</li><li><strong>Remand:</strong> Cases not settled are remanded to their original districts for trial</li></ul>