The Philadelphia judge in charge of mass tort cases said that she needs to balance the fact that Pennsylvania gives high deference to the choice of forum made by plaintiffs with whatever problems can be caused by that deference.
The issue of what forums plaintiffs and their lawyers select to bring mass torts in pharmaceutical and asbestos litigation has gotten a lot of attention recently. For example, the state Supreme Court recently rejected the request of pharmaceutical manufacturer Bayer to exercise its jurisdiction over whether Pennsylvania is the most convenient forum for several drug products liability cases brought by out-of-state plaintiffs in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. And last month, drugmaker Pfizer asked that almost 50 cases that have been removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania be consolidated into one multidistrict litigation.
