Judicial Panel Grants Plaintiffs’ Requests for Pretrial Coordination of Class Action Lawsuits Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407, Unopposed by Class Action Plaintiffs or Common Defendants, and Transfers Actions to Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Ten (10) class actions – eight in New Jersey, one in New York and one in Pennsylvania – were filed against various defendants alleging antitrust violations; specifically, the class action complaints allege “price fixing in a claimed nationwide market for blood reagent products and seek recovery under federal antitrust law” In re Blood Reagents Antitrust Litig., ___ F.Supp.2d ___ (Jud.Pan.Mult.Lit. August 17, 2009) [Slip Opn., at 1, 2]. Twenty (20) related class actions were treated as potential tag-along cases, _id._, at 1 n.1. Plaintiffs’ lawyers in three of the New Jersey class actions filed two motions with the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) requesting centralization of the class actions pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 in the District of New Jersey. _Id._, at 1. The motion for consolidation was not opposed, but the parties proposed various venues for transfer. Responding plaintiffs in other New Jersey class actions supported the motion; responding parties in Pennsylvania class actions, supported the motion but requested transfer to Pennsylvania; responding parties in Texas class actions, together with class actions pending in other states, requested transfer to Texas; still other responding parties requested transfer to Illinois or South Carolina. _Id._, at 1-2. Certain common defendants requested centralization in Georgia, _id._, at 2. The Judicial Panel granted the motion to centralize the class action lawsuits and decided on the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as the appropriate transferee court. _Id._
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