News

United States District Court - Western District of Louisiana
Welcome to "News & Notes" the place where you will find general information we hope will be of
benefit to all. We will, from time to time, put the answers to the most asked questions here, clarify
earlier communications, and let you know general information you might not otherwise know. So, you
might want to check this tab from time to time.
(3/12/2012) The Court has determined to effect the selection of lead counsel, liaison counsel, and
plaintiffs' executive and steering committees before the March 22nd-23rd status conference in order to
allow the committees to have their initial planning sessions with the Court on March 23rd, while already
in Lafayette. Only those serving as lead, and liaison counsel, and those on the plaintiffs' steering and
executive committees, along with participating counsel for the defendants, need plan to stay in Lafayette
once the meeting on March 22nd is completed. The Court has reviewed and thoroughly considered all
of the applications submitted for lead counsel, liason counsel, the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee and
the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee. With gratitude for the many submissions of well qualified individuals,
the following have been selected:
Richard Arsenault and Paul Pennock as Lead CounselPatrick Morrow as Liason CounselDawn Barrios designated as Liason Counsel to State CourtsStephanie O'Connor designated as Science Coordinator Mark RobinsonHunter Shkolnik Chris SeegerJane ConroyDianne NastMark LanierNeil OverholtzAndy BirchfieldVance AndrusSteve MurrayJames SingletonNick DrakulichJerrold ParkerTroy Rafferty The formal order reflecting the above will follow.
http://www.lawd.uscourts.gov/MDL2299/html/news.html The formal order reflecting the above will follow.
(3/8/2012) Counsel who are eligible are reminded to apprise the Court no later than March 16 if they
wish to participate by telephone in the March 22 status conference by sending email to
hanna_mdl_orders@lawd.uscourts.gov.
SPECIAL MASTER APPLICATIONS (Revised 3/9/2012)
The Court is in receipt of the following applications for appointment as Special Master in the MDL 6:11-md-2299 ACTOS (Pioglitazone) Products Liability Litigation.
Due to confusion as to certain deadlines, the Court has extended the deadline for comments. Any attorney who might wish to enter a comment as to the applications should submit comments(anonymously, if desired) on or before Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 5:00 p.m., CST, via e-mail at hanna_mdl_orders@lawd.uscourts.gov. Please send any such comments only to the e-mail address noted and donot otherwise file the comments. The court has provided web-site information for each applicant The hypertext links to the left lead to other non-court web-sites and contain information organizations not within the federal judiciary. These links are provided for the user's The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Office of the Clerk of Court does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of the March 22nd Conference
The Court has received several inquiries about the initial status conference set for March 22, 2012. Theinitial status conference is intended to be a "meet and greet" for the Court and counsel, and to be thefoundational meeting for the coming selection of committees, special masters, ideas for the CMO andthe progression of discovery. Consequently, the attorney who has primary responsibility for a case isasked to participate. As some of you might have only one or two cases, and thus, might not wish to be considered for committee work or involvement in other foundational choices and decisions,arrangements can be made for participation by phone upon the attorney's request and agreement by theCourt. Likewise, those who have scheduling conflicts can contact the Court to obtain permission to http://www.lawd.uscourts.gov/MDL2299/html/news.html waive their appearance. However, if an attorney wishes to be considered for committee selection orliaison counsel, or intends to take the primary lead in a given case or cases, he or she, barringpermission obtained from the Court, must participate in person at this first conference. It is expectedthat at future conferences with the Court, only those who are on the respective committee orcommittees, or who have asked to be on the agenda, will need to appear; it is hoped that eventuallythese conferences can be done by video conferencing, except when circumstances mandate otherwise.
Our IT department indicates telephone participation can be arranged; full instruction on how to
participate by phone will be placed on "News and Notes" for those who have obtained permission of the
Court to participate by phone. Requests to participate by phone, should be directed to
hanna_mdl_orders@lawd.uscourts.gov.
A Frequently Asked Question:
Why did the Court ask the plaintiffs and defendants to do a one sentence declaration of what
body of law applies to each case at this early stage in the litigation?
The one sentence declaration was requested merely as an organizational tool for the Court whenconsidering committees and the organizational pattern for the cases. It will have no legally bindingeffect; but will aid the Court in organizing the cases and selecting committee representation.
The information provided through this site is not intended to be nor should it be considered legal advice.
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Source: http://www.rcrlaw.net/files/mdl_no._2299_news___notes.pdf