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Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation

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United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
(J.P.M.L.)
LocationThurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building
(Washington, D.C.)
Established1968
AuthorityArticle III court
Created by28 U.S.C. § 1407 & § 2112
Composition methodChief Justice appointment
Judges7
ChairmanKaren K. Caldwell
www.jpml.uscourts.gov Edit this at Wikidata

The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (J.P.M.L. or the Panel) is a special body within the United States federal court system which manages multidistrict litigation. It was established by Congress in 1968 by Pub. L. 90–296, and has the authority to determine whether civil actions pending in two or more federal judicial districts should be transferred to a single federal district court for pretrial proceedings.[1][2] If such cases are determined to involve one or more common questions of fact and are transferred, the Panel will then select the district court and assign a judge or judges to preside over the litigation. The purpose of the transfer or "centralization" process is to conserve the resources of the parties and their counsel, as well as the judiciary, thus avoiding duplication of discovery and preventing inconsistent pretrial rulings.[3]

The Chief Justice of the United States, currently John Roberts, appoints the members of the Panel, which is composed of no more than seven United States federal judges serving on either district courts or courts of appeals. All panel members must be from different judicial circuits. In addition to their participation on the Panel, the members continue to serve as judges for the courts to which they were originally appointed.[3] The Panel convenes hearings in various locations around the country to facilitate the participation of parties and their counsel. The Office of the Clerk of the Panel is located at the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building in Washington, D.C.

As of September 30, 2018, the Panel has centralized 1,722 dockets involving more than 673,000 individual cases. There have been 1,131 additional docket requests that were not centralized. These dockets encompass litigation categories as diverse as securities fraud, drugs and other products liability cases, intellectual property infringement, antitrust law violations, airplane crashes, employment practices and consumer data security breaches.[4]

The Panel also has the additional responsibility of centralizing multicircuit petitions for review: petitions for review of a government agency order or decision which are currently pending in two or more federal courts of appeals.[5] The Panel has delegated this task to its clerk, who selects a court of appeals by lottery (i.e., spinning a drum and selecting a number at random).[6][7] Before Congress created the random lottery procedure by statute in 1988, parties litigating in support of and against controversial government agency decisions would race to file in their preferred court of appeals in accordance with the traditional rule that the appropriate venue was usually where a petition for review was first filed.[6]

Current composition of the panel

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The following members comprise the panel:[8]

Name Title Court Appointer Date appointed
Karen K. Caldwell (Chair) District Judge Eastern District of Kentucky John Roberts October 16, 2018
October 18, 2019

Chair

Nathaniel M. Gorton District Judge District of Massachusetts October 16, 2018
Matthew Kennelly Senior District Judge Northern District of Illinois October 16, 2019
David C. Norton District Judge District of South Carolina October 16, 2019
Roger Benitez Senior District Judge Southern District of California October 16, 2020
Dale A. Kimball Senior District Judge District of Utah October 16, 2020
Madeline Cox Arleo District Judge District of New Jersey October 16, 2021

References

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  1. ^ "Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation". Federal Judicial Center. Archived from the original on January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
  2. ^ 28 U.S.C. § 1407.
  3. ^ a b "Overview of Panel | Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation | United States". Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  4. ^ "Statistical Information | Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation | United States". Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  5. ^ 28 U.S.C. § 2112.
  6. ^ a b Iafolla, Robert (November 5, 2021). "Lottery Will Pick Court to Hear Biden Shot-or-Test Challenges". Bloomberg Law. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  7. ^ Rule 25.5 of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Archived September 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine (as filed October 4, 2016).
  8. ^ "ROSTER OF CURRENT AND FORMER JUDGES OF THE UNITED STATES JUDICIAL PANEL ON MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION" (PDF). Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 15, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
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