MDL Judge Issues 'Trial Template' to Assist Transferor Courts

CLEVELAND - The presiding judge in the federal Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation has issued a 307-page "Trial Template" to assist federal courts around the country in trying any of the 3,900 remaining cases should they complete discovery and be returned to their originating court. In re: Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation, No. 1:03-CV-17000 [MDL Docket No. 1535] (N.D. Ohio).

Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley issued the document on June 4, noting that the MDL court's mandate from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is to coordinate discovery but to eventually return the cases to the transferor courts.

Since the first …