Multi-District Litigation
The growth of multi-district litigation (“MDLs”) in recent years has taxed both the federal court system as well as the defendants targeted in the litigation. In 2024, MDLs accounted for nearly two thirds of private civil cases in federal court. Buried in those claims are thousands, and potentially tens of thousands, of frivolous and marginal mass tort claims. Indeed, the federal Advisory Committee on Civil Rules estimates that 20 percent to 30 percent (and perhaps as high as 50 percent) of claims included in mass tort MDL proceedings may be marginal and/or frivolous.
This glut of meritless claims is a predictable consequence of plaintiffs’ lawyers’ favored tactic in MDL proceedings: cast as wide a net as possible to aggregate as many claims as possible as quickly as possible, without utilizing adequate resources to actually vet those claims. This deluge of claimants and claims in turn makes it nearly impossible for defendants to weed out meritless claims through familiar procedural avenues such as motions to dismiss, summary judgment, and basic tools of discovery, leaving them with a choice between the vast potential expense of litigating the MDL or accepting the settlement offer that plaintiffs’ lawyers have placed in front of them. All too often, the result is MDL settlements based not on the merits of individual cases, but rather on the sheer volume of claims. Aside from adding artificial, coercive weight to defendants’ burden, the inclusion of large percentages of frivolous claims in MDLs further impacts legitimate plaintiffs, who must share any settlement or recovery with illegitimate claimants.
