In re Asbestos Products Liability Litigation

771 F. Supp. 415 (1991)

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In re Asbestos Products Liability Litigation

Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
771 F. Supp. 415 (1991)

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Facts

Individuals and their families (victims) (plaintiffs) filed thousands of lawsuits against asbestos-related entities (defendants) in federal courts across the country, alleging personal injury or wrongful death caused by asbestos exposure. In late 1990, eight federal judges presiding over asbestos-related cases wrote to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (panel) regarding the increasing difficulties of managing the growing number of asbestos personal-injury cases and to request that the cases be transferred to a single forum pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. At the time of the letter, more than 30,000 asbestos-related personal-injury lawsuits were pending, which had resulted in growing dockets, long delays, duplicative litigation of the same issues, high costs that exceeded recovery, and exhaustion of assets. Since 1977, the panel had declined to transfer asbestos cases to a single forum five times, but each of those denials involved a far smaller number of cases, several of which were already at an advanced stage of litigation. Within two months of the judges’ letter to the panel, the panel issued an order to show cause why all pending federal asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death cases should not be transferred to a single forum pursuant to § 1407, and a hearing was held.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Nangle, J.)

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