JPML Creates MDL for One Siding Product, Denies Petition to Docket Another

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation this month established an MDL docket for claims alleging that one company’s siding product contained defects that led it to prematurely fail, but refused to establish proceedings for a similar product that plaintiffs also said was defectively designed. In Re: Hardieplank Fiber Cement Siding Litigation, MDL No. 2359; In Re: Louisiana-Pacific Corp. Trimboard Siding Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2366 (JPML).

In an order released June 11, the JPML consolidated for pretrial proceedings four cases brought against James Hardie Building Products, which marketed and sold fiber-cement exterior …