MDL Judge Remands 15 Cases to California State Court

PHILADELPHIA - A Pennsylvania federal MDL judge has remanded 15 Avandia cases to California state court, ruling that the state law failure-to-warn claims did not raise the type of substantial federal issue that would support federal question jurisdiction. In Re: Avandia Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1871 (JPML).

However, U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania refused to remand two actions originally brought in North Carolina and New York, ruling that diversity jurisdiction exists.

In the 17 cases at issue, the plaintiffs brought state law failure-to-warn …