Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation — Judicial Business 2018

The Panel transferred 4,671 cases that had been pending in 91 district courts to 39 transferee districts for inclusion in coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings with 41,517 actions initiated in the transferee districts. The Panel did not order transfer for 263 actions that were the subjects of 38 motions for centralization.

The Panel centralized 30 new multidistrict litigation (MDL) dockets. Twenty-one dockets were evenly split among antitrust, product liability, and “miscellaneous” dockets (which included three data security breach dockets and the national prescription opiate docket). The remainder consisted of four sales practices dockets, three intellectual property dockets, a contract dispute docket, and a common disaster docket arising from the release of acidic, mine-impacted water in at least three western states.

Since its creation in 1968, the Panel has centralized 673,104 civil actions for pretrial proceedings. By the end of fiscal year 2018, a total of 16,728 actions had been remanded for trial, 499,865 actions had been terminated in the transferee courts, and 156,511 actions were pending throughout 48 transferee district courts.

Tables S-19 and S-20 provide statistics on the cases transferred since the Panel was created, presenting data on the flow of cases into and out of the districts during the current fiscal year and cumulative since 1968.

All statistical information on MDL cases in the federal courts is maintained by the clerk’s office of the Panel. Information on specific cases or districts may be obtained from that office.