Need for reform highlighted in multidistrict litigation cases

For the Defense

By Donald P. Eckler

Donald “Pat” Eckler is a partner at Pretzel & Stouffer focusing on professional liability defense, insurance coverage litigation, and general tort defense. He is the legislative chair of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel. His views are his own and not those of his firm or its clients.

Posted July 1, 2020 9:39 AM

As the power that the federal judiciary has aggrandized to itself arguably eclipses that of the political branches, much attention has rightly been given to the breakneck pace at which the Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees. One of the principal powers that courts exercise in the United States is handling mass tort and products liability claims, in contrast to the administrative state that largely serves a regulatory function in Europe. In the federal system, the principal manner in which that …

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