According to the Web site of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, one of the core purposes of the panel’s centralization process is to “conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel and the judiciary.” The theory is that, by consolidating numerous, geographically diverse actions into a single multidistrict litigation (MDL) action for pretrial purposes, early motion practice and discovery will be streamlined for all participants in the process, including plaintiffs, defendants and the courts.
MDLs unquestionably increase efficiency and permit resource conservation in many cases. When hundreds or even thousands of plaintiffs have causes of action against a single defendant or a small number of defendants — for example, as a result of an airplane crash or the undisclosed side effects of a particular drug — it is hard to dispute that consolidation of the pretrial proceedings benefits all of the parties.
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