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be necessary to eliminate duplicative dis- covery, prevent inconsistent pretrial rul- ings and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary. (In re Express Scripts, Inc., Pharmacy Benefits Mgmt. Litig. (J.P.M.L. 2005) 368 F. Supp. 2d 1356, 1357.) Analogous procedures exist in a
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number of states. For example, in California, when multiple civil actions sharing a common question of fact or law are pending in different courts, the pre- siding judge of the court, or either party, may submit a petition for coordination to the Chairperson of the Judicial Council. The Chairperson may assign a judge to determine whether the actions are com- plex, and if so, whether coordination of the actions is appropriate. (Code Civ. Proc., § 404.) In the past decade, coordi- nated proceedings have been ordered in a number of pharmaceutical cases, including Vioxx, diet drugs, Yaz/Yasmin and Fosamax, to name a few. While state- level coordinated proceedings typically attract fewer cases than their federal counterparts, some have played signifi- cant roles. Indeed, state court trials in California, New Jersey and Texas provid- ed significant momentum for plaintiffs in the Vioxx litigation. One of the transferee court’s earliest, and most critical, decisions is the
appointment of supervising plaintiffs’ counsel, or – typically – the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (“PSC”). As Judge Eldon Fallon has observed, a PSC is nec- essary to create centralized leadership and control in litigations of this size. (In re Vioxx Products Liab. Litig. (E.D. La. Aug. 9, 2011) MDL 1657, 2011 WL 3563004.) The PSC assists all plaintiffs by oversee- ing discovery, communicating with other plaintiffs’ lawyers, appearing before the court, attending status conferences, and preparing motions and responses regard- ing case-wide discovery matters. The PSC acts on behalf of, or in consultation with, Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the manage- ment of the litigation. (In re Prempro Products Liab. Litig. (E.D. Ark. Jan. 13, 2011) 4:03-CV-1507-WRW, 2011 WL 124188.)
The Vioxx litigation plaintiffs’ trial package
In most consolidated drug cases, the
plaintiffs’ leadership performs an enor- mous amount of work. Even in the most haphazard MDL, millions of pages of documents are reviewed, scores of depo- sitions are taken and numerous experts are developed. This work is critical to getting the litigation into a posture for either trials or resolution. But a single
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28 — The Advocate Magazine JANUARY 2012
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