Free Letter - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1 :07-cv-001 49-***-IVI PT Document 20 Filed 08/10/2007 Page 1 of 1
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT or PENNSYLVANIA
U5 CDURTHOUSE
GDI MARKET STREET
I PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106-I797
MICHAEL E. KIJNZ August 9, 2007 ;):;LCE ‘
CLERK OF COURT TELEPHONE
Iz1sI 591-7704
Peter T. Dalleo, Clerk
U.S. District Court for the at sg
District of Delaware sg`? E
J. Caleb Boggs Federal Bldg E5 -.,1
LockBox 18 :-. ;_·;
844 King Street Y ij kn
Wilmington, DE 19801-3570 -1 ED
""U
ti . 3
IN RE: ASBESTOS PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION. :5
MDL 875 Transfer Order; DC-DE Collins, 1:07-149 "
Dear Clerk:
The enclosed certified copy of a Transfer Order from the Judicial Panel is being sent to
you regarding the involved action listed above. This case has been properly identified as multi
district litigation asbestos cases.
PLEASE DO NQ QT FORWARD ANY OF THE RECORD OR ANY DOCUIVIENTS TO
OUR COURT. VVE ALSO DO NOT NEED A COPY OF THE DOCKET OR THIS
ORDER RETURNED TO OUR CQURT.
This certified copy is infomation for your court’s records. A Transfer Order signed by O
Judge Giles will be sent to your court. We are in the process of assigning new case numbers and
all future docketing will be conducted in our court. If you have any questions please contact me
at (267) 299-7018.
Sincerely,
MICHAEL E. KUNZ
Clerk of Court
L.--·?°/—
/,;?·r·#1
Tom Dempsey
MDL Docketing Clerk
Enclosure

Case 1 :07-cv-00149-***-IVIPT Document 20-2 Filed 08/10/2007 Page 1 of 3
M · A CUP? GER IRE TD FROM THE RECORD
A CERTIFIED TRUE CUPY _ .4 Cf U iuolciaa. t>aMe_L ON -
[V,PL}/A """‘*""""””"" lVlUL`1'|DéSTH!CT l-i`I!f3ATlO
, —;·.T J ° ` ,;f,__,____,__,__,,,____ r, , _ ,, qi-,
A , M W I, _,I,,[.,.I Ltiiéliiiii E·`l'AIES D1iSl'Et;'§“§ Q&Qs3j;`g xm UI? ` i· J]?
,», t 1; 5.2 J; isis-iE?·i.*5 ihiséiiiii Qi é’£iE‘&i§S-if C, Q. =:
gi ,2 Faso
. _ ..2..1..., - ae <·:ELEl3l·<‘S OFFECE (
ATTESP d ll JG! _ _ NIT ED STATES JUDICIAL PANEL 'T1
For tut IUDHZIAL awgt ‘ 0,, arse j; »
Mumnlslmcl UT G l N Mnrrrmsrntcr LITIGATION · L';
af E
75
IN RE:ASBESTOS PRODUCTS LIABILITY "‘
LITIGATION (N0. VI) MDL No. 875
TRANSFER ORDER
Before the entire Paneliz These motions are brought pursuant to Rule 7.4, R.P.J.P.M.L., 199
F.R.D. 425, 43 5-36 (2001), by plaintiffs in five actions listed on Schedule A and pending in the District
of Delaware, the Central District of Illinois (two actions), the Southern District of Mississippi, and the
Western District of Missouri, respectively. Movants ask the Panel to vacate the respective portions of
its orders conditionally transferring their actions to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for inclusion
in the centralized pretrial proceedings occurring there in this docket before Judge James T. Giles.
Responding defendants support transfer of the ac_tions.
On the basis ofthe papers tiled and hearing session held (without oral argument), the Panel finds
that these actions involve common questions of fact with actions in this litigation previously transferred
to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and that transfer of these actions to the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania for inclusion in the coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings in that district will
serve the convenience pf the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of the
litigation. We find that transfer of these actions is appropriate for reasons expressed by the Panel in its
original decision in this docket directing centralization of all pending federal court actions not then in
trial involving allegations of personal injury or wrongful death caused by asbestos or asbestos
containing products. See In re Asbestos Products Liability Litigation (No. V1), 771 F.Supp. 415
(J .P.M.L. 1991). Particularly, in the Panel's original decision distinctions based on such matters as th
pendency of motions or other matters before the transferor court] the uniqueness of a party’s status, the
` Judges Heybum and Scirica took no part in the disposition of this matter. Judge Motz took
no part in th disposition of this matter with respect to the Southern District of Mississippi and
Western District of Missouri actions.
1 Certain plaintiffs have argued that transfer of their actions should be denied or deferred in
order to permit the resolution of motions to remand the actions to state court. There is no need to
delay transfer in order to accommodate such an interest. We make the following observations: (1)
as a practical matter, there is a lag time of at least three or four months from the filing of an action,
its identification as a potential tag-along action, issuance of a conditional transfer order, stay of
transfer when a party timely objects to the conditional transfer, briefing on the question of transfer,
the Panel hearing session, and the issuance of the Panel's subsequent order; (2) Panel Rule 1.5,
R.P.J.P.M.L., 199 F.R.D. at 42 7, expressly provides that the pendency ofa conditional trans fer order
(continued...)

Case 1:07-cv-00149-***-IVIPT Document 20-2 Filed 08/10/2007 Page 2 of 3
- 2 -
type of defendant, the docket condition of any specific federal district, the stage of pretrial proceedings, ‘
the presence of unique claims or additional claims not relating to asbestos injury or death, and/or the
unanimity of opposition to transfer by the parties to an action, were considered and rejected by the Panel
as grounds for carving out exceptions to transfer in this extraordinary docket. We are not persuaded to n
depart from this approach in dealing with the question of transfer of the actions now before the Panel.
` Under the stewardship of the transferee court, as of July 30, 2007, (1) over 74,600 actions have
been closed in the transferee district, and (2) over 1,360 actions or claims therein have been returned
to their originating transferor districts. To any parties that believe the uniqueness of their particular
situation renders continued inclusion of their action in MDL No. 875 unnecessary or inadvisable,
whenever the transferee court deems remand of any claims or actions appropriate, procedures are
available whereby this may be accomplished with a minimum of delay. See Rule 7.6, R.P.J.P.M.L., 199
F .R.D. at 436-38. We are confident that the transferee court will continue to promptly review
arguments for retuming transferred actions or claims to their transferor courts and will take all
appropriate steps to assure their speedy return whenever it is convinced that retention in the MDL No.
875 proceedings is no longer needed.
lT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § l407, these five actions are
transferred to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and, with the consent of that court, assigned to the
Honorable James T. Giles for inclusion in the coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings
occurring there in this docket.
PANEL ON MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION
D. Lowell Jensen
Acting Chairman
John G. Heyburn H, Chairman* J. Frederick Motzi
Robert L. Miller, Jr. Kathryn H. Vratil
David R. Hansen Anthony J. Scirica*
*(...continued)
does not in any way (i) suspend orders and pretrial proceedings in the district court in which the
action that is the subject of the conditional transfer order is pending, or (ii) limit the pretrial
jurisdiction of that court; and (3) accordingly, those courts wishing to address such motions have
adequate time in which to do so, those courts concluding that such issues should be addressed by the "
transferee judge need not rule on them, and the process of Section 1407 transfer in MDL-875 can
continue without any unnecessary interruption or delay.

. Case 1:07-cv-00149-Q;--MPT Document 20-2 Filed 08/10/2007 Page 3 of 3
IN RE: ASBESTOS PRODUCTS LIABILITY
LITIGATION (N0. VI) MDL No. 875
SCHEDULE A ·
District of Delaware
Mary M. Collins, etc. v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., et al., C.A. No. 1:07-149
Central District of Illinois
Carol Durbin, etc. v. Pneumo Abex Corp., et al., C.A. No. 1:07-1037 `
Alan Nussbaum, et aI. v. Pneumo Abex Corp., et al., C.A. No. 1:07-1038
Southern District of Mississippi
Robert L. Reeves v. Afton Pumps, Inc., etal., C.A. No. 1:07-141
Western District of Missouri
Patrick Kroske v. Union Carbide, et al., C.A. No. 4:07-184