Insights & Events

Hollingsworth LLP partners Gary D. Feldon and Robert E. Johnston will present a Barbri (formerly Strafford) CLE-accredited webinar providing an in-depth analysis of the new Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1, best practices for securing its benefits, and strategies for addressing its lack of mandatory directives.

Historically, courts were forced to invent procedures for managing MDLs. The new FRCP 16.1 changes that by endorsing entry of a case management order early in the MDL to govern key case management issues and formally recognizing appropriate procedural tools address them. FRCP 16.1 orders are based on a joint report setting out the parties’ views on case management issues, followed by a conference with the MDL court. When approached properly, these orders have the potential to resolve many of the problems that plague MDLs, including the influx of meritless claims.

The new FRCP 16.1, however, does not impose any substantive requirements on MDL courts. As a result, the MDL reform envisioned by the Rule could be stifled by courts that refuse to employ the case management approach it contemplates. MDL practitioners must therefore be well-informed and sophisticated advocates on FRCP 16.1 case management issues from the outset to maximize the chances of courts taking up those tools to make MDLs fairer and more efficient.

Among the issues to be covered:

• Best practices for crafting FRCP 16.1 case management plans
• How to use procedures formalized in FRCP 16.1 to address persistent problems in MDLs, including meritless claims
• Emerging case law supporting a rigorous application of FRCP 16.1
• Additional MDL reforms still needed