News
Matt Melamed Co-Authors Article On MDL Discovery Procedures
Matt Melamed, along with former colleagues, recently authored the article titled Planning for Aggressive Multiparty Discovery in a Fast-Moving, Complex MDL: An Example from the Opioids Litigation, which was published in the University of Missouri—Kansas City Law Review. The article was written for a symposium, Multidistrict Litigation: Judicial and Practitioner Perspectives, organized by the school and the Honorable Stephen R. Bough (W.D. Mo.).
The article draws on the authors’ experience in the national opioids MDL, which has been described as the largest and most complex litigation in United States history. Discovery effectiveness and efficiency is a core reason for consolidating cases into an MDL, and the article addresses how the Court, the Special Master for Discovery, and counsel pursued that goal. It identifies four aspects of discovery in the national opioids MDL that were key: dedicated leadership, the rapid focus on comprehensive nationwide data, effective and efficient dispute management, and strategic remand.
The article, along with others submitted for the symposium by judges, professors, and practitioners representing plaintiffs and defendants in MDLs, is published in 89 UMKC L. Rev. (2021).
The article draws on the authors’ experience in the national opioids MDL, which has been described as the largest and most complex litigation in United States history. Discovery effectiveness and efficiency is a core reason for consolidating cases into an MDL, and the article addresses how the Court, the Special Master for Discovery, and counsel pursued that goal. It identifies four aspects of discovery in the national opioids MDL that were key: dedicated leadership, the rapid focus on comprehensive nationwide data, effective and efficient dispute management, and strategic remand.
The article, along with others submitted for the symposium by judges, professors, and practitioners representing plaintiffs and defendants in MDLs, is published in 89 UMKC L. Rev. (2021).