Chapter § 4.07 Arguments the MDL May Not Consider

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Publication year: 2020

§ 4.07 Arguments the MDL May Not Consider

[1] Motions Are Pending in Transferor Court

The existence of pending motions before the transferor court, including a motion to remand, is generally not a proper basis to deny transfer.¹¹¹ The presumption is that the transferee court is competent to rule on any pending motions after transfer. Besides, the Panel has frequently pointed out that because the transferor court retains jurisdiction to rule on pending motions until transfer is ordered (or, in the case of tag-along actions, the conditional transfer order (CTO) is made permanent), there is no reason to delay transfer while pending motions are resolved. A transferor court that wants to rule on a pending motion before transfer may do so.¹¹²

[2] Effect of Law of a Particular Jurisdiction

The MDL Panel doesn’t consider what law the transferee court might apply or the effect of that application when deciding whether to transfer actions. In the seminal case on this issue, the MDL Panel issued a CTO, and the plaintiff filed an objection...