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Federal Multidistrict Litigation in a Nutshell

2nd Edition
Robert H. Klonoff
ISBN: 9798895456002
Subject: Complex Litigation
Format: Print - Softbound
Page Count: 522
Copyright: 2026 | Status: Accepting Pre-Orders

This text is for students taking courses in complex litigation, advanced civil procedure, or mass torts. It is also designed as a concise book for members of the bench and bar who are handling multidistrict litigation cases. Its focus is on all aspects of federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), including statistics on MDL cases; comparisons with other aggregation devices (such as class actions); the decision of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (the Panel) to centralize cases (including the standards for centralization and the selection of the MDL district court and judge); appellate review of Panel decisions; tag-along cases; the role of the MDL transferee judge (including case management, designating lead lawyers and committees, deciding motions, conducting bellwether trials, overseeing settlements, and awarding attorneys’ fees); choice-of-law issues in MDLs; personal jurisdiction and venue issues; remand of transferred cases; federal/state coordination (including state MDL statutes); and proposals for reform of MDL practice. The second edition contains substantial updates, including updated statistics, inclusion of very recent MDLs, a new chapter on bankruptcy issues, and a discussion of the new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1.


Imprint: West Academic Publishing
Series: Nutshells
Publication Date: 04/23/2026
Related Subject(s): Civil Procedure, Civil Procedure-Advanced, Federal Courts

Robert H. Klonoff, Lewis & Clark Law School

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  • Addition of many recent MDL cases
  • Expanded discussion of MDL case management techniques
  • Updated MDL statistics
  • Discussion of numerous recent scholarly works on MDLs
  • Discussion of the new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1
  • New chapter on bankruptcy issues, including Texas Two-Step
  • Discussion of recent mandamus decisions involving MDL judges

Learn more about this series.