In re Multi-Piece Rim Products Liability Litigation

Nineteen products-liability cases involving the design, manufacture, and malfunction of a multi-piece truck-wheel rim and tire assembly were pending in 14 federal districts when the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered the parties to show cause as to why 18 of the 19 actions should not be transferred to a single district for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings. Plaintiffs in 11 actions favored transfer; plaintiffs in five other actions and all but one defendant opposed the transfer; plaintiffs in the remaining three cases did not respond. In each action, one or more of four manufacturers was named a defendant, and another 21 other defendants were named, 19 of which were named in only one action and two of which were named in two actions. In the 18 actions that were being considered for transfer, the plaintiffs alleged that the multi-piece rim assembly separated under pressure and flew apart with explosive force when the tire was inflated, mounted after inflated, or removed inflated. Opponents of the transfer argued that the questions of fact in each case were primarily individual and that in cases in which discovery was well under way, transfer would delay pretrial and trial proceedings. Proponents of the transfer argued that all multi-piece rims were essentially the same and the sources of discovery would be primarily the same.