Court Orders

This multidistrict litigation consists of over 50 cases currently pending before this Court. A number of cases have also been filed in several state courts. In both the federal and state cases the plaintiffs have filed suit alleging certain actual and potential damage or risks associated with Chinese-manufactured drywall. The defendants, either manufactured, distributed or installed the drywall.

The job of the Panel is to (1) determine whether civil actions pending in different federal districts involve one or more common questions of fact such that the actions should be transferred to one federal district for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings; and (2) select the judge or judges and court assigned to conduct such proceedings.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation assigned this multidistrict proceeding to Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to coordinate discovery and other pretrial matters in the pending cases. Subsequent cases filed in any federal court will ordinarily be transferred to this district court to become part of MDL No. 2047 as "Tag Along" cases. The purposes of this transfer or "centralization" process are to avoid duplication of discovery, to prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, and to conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary. Upon the conclusion of discovery and other pretrial matters, the cases that constitute MDL 2047, unless otherwise resolved, will be transferred back to the federal district courts from which they originated for trial.

The court orders listed below are from Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

MDL No. 2047 Caption IN RE: Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Products Liability Litigation

Transferee Judge	Eldon E. Fallon
District	Eastern District of Louisiana
Transfer Date	06/15/2009
Website	www.laed.uscourts.gov/Drywall/Drywall.htm
Master Docket No.	2:09-md-2047