Judge Denies Motion to Stay as JPML Weighs Transfer of Coverage Case

NORFOLK, Va. - After refusing to send the case to the Drywall MDL in New Orleans, a federal judge in Virginia has similarly rejected an attempt to have a drywall-related insurance coverage action stayed pending a ruling by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to transfer the matter to the coordinated docket. Travco Insurance Co. v. Ward, No. 10-14 (E.D. Va.).

Judge Robert G. Doumar of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said May 12 that staying the action would prejudice the non-moving insurance carrier that filed the action. Judge Doumar further stated that a stay …