The November 2022 conference will examine changes in MDL practices, complex litigation case management, and various issues that have arisen during and after Covid and the impact it has had on how dockets are managed both in and out of the courtroom.

This conference will highlight the impact of outsized MDL dockets such as 3M Ear-plug Litigation, as well as the now-emerging litigation management tactic of filing for bankruptcy. These developments affect filed cases, unfiled cases, other MDLs engaged in settlement negotiations, and firms’ case screening procedures.

A sense of cooperation and managing mass tort and complex commercial litigation in a bipartisan manner among plaintiffs and defense counsel with full disclosure to the judiciary is something that should be explored and part of the discussion of this conference.

There are numerous ways for the leadership and executive committee members, who will be in attendance, along with judges who are managing these cases, to open dialogue on the establishing a forum for best practices and ensuring a bipartisan and open platform to ensure effective change and removing the obstacles to managing complex dockets.

Since bankruptcy is emerging as a key defense strategy in mass tort litigation, this issue should be the subject of common discussion. The interplay between multidistrict litigation and bankruptcy becomes exponentially more complicated when (1) the transition from one court to the other is only partial; (2) the litigation involves thousands of unfiled cases; (3) case-specific prove-up is ongoing; and (4) hundreds of plaintiffs firms are involved. A common dialogue to address these concerns is timely, and the setting of the complex litigation forum would seem the appropriate venue for an in-depth discussion on these matters.

Case management discussions often concern the lack of alternative case-management platforms with the capacity to handle large mass torts and the need for all parties and the court to effectively manage a docket from a single, interactive point of view.  With continuing improvements in available technology, new options for case management including: digital payments, claim administration and lien resolution continue to emerge, this conference provides a forum for stakeholders to discuss litigation support developments and options..

The conference is held under the Chatham House Rule: “(P)articipants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), or that of any other participant, may be revealed.”

The conference is expected to be held annually. Experienced practitioners attending the conference will be considered to be invited as a panelist speaker for a future mass-tort MDL conference. The conference is made possible by lawyer conference-registration fees and the generous contributions of sponsors.