Presenting twenty-two years of multidistrict litigation data, this book exposes a systematic lack of checks and balances in our courts.

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.

"Completely revised and up to date. Thoroughly covers federal class actions and other multi-party litigation, including case law, applicable rules and statutes, and important secondary sources. Covers all of the major topics of class action law and practice, such as commencement of a class action, requirements for class certification, class action discovery, notice to class members, opt-out rights, Seventh Amendment and due process issues, class settlements, remedies, appellate review, issue and claim preclusion, ethical issues, ADR, and third-party financing. Also contains a special focus on securities, mass tort, and employment discrimination class actions, as well as treatment of federal multidistrict litigation, defendant class actions, bankruptcy, joinder devices under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and shareholder derivative suits. Explores the latest cutting-edge issues in multi-party litigation and discusses numerous ground-breaking court decisions. This latest edition also contains a detailed treatment of the 2018 amendments to the federal class action rule."--

Since the 1960s, the class action lawsuit has been a powerful tool for holding businesses accountable. Yet years of attacks by corporate America and unfavorable rulings by the Supreme Court have left its future uncertain. In this book, Brian T. Fitzpatrick makes the case for the importance of class action litigation from a surprising political perspective: an unabashedly conservative point of view. Conservatives have opposed class actions in recent years, but Fitzpatrick argues that they should see such litigation not as a danger to the economy, but as a form of private enforcement of the law. He starts from the premise that all of us, conservatives and libertarians included, believe that markets need at least some rules to thrive, from laws that enforce contracts to laws that prevent companies from committing fraud. He also reminds us that conservatives consider the private sector to be superior to the government in most areas. And the relatively little-discussed intersection of those two beliefs is where the benefits of class action lawsuits become clear: when corporations commit misdeeds, class action lawsuits enlist the private sector to intervene, resulting in a smaller role for the government, lower taxes, and, ultimately, more effective solutions. Offering a novel argument that will surprise partisans on all sides, The Conservative Case for Class Actions is sure to breathe new life into this long-running debate.

Klonoff, Bilich and Malveaux' Class Actions and Other Multiparty Litigation, Cases, and Materials focuses on one of the most important and dynamic areas of modern federal civil practice: aggregate-party litigation, particularly class actions. The book covers the latest groundbreaking Supreme Court cases involving employment discrimination, arbitration, and securities fraud. This casebook: Provides cutting-edge cases Explores litigation strategies used by practitioners Examines the theories underlying complex, multiparty litigation As such, this book is ideal for scholars, lawyers, and students.