Defendants Move for Accelerated Discovery in Remaining MDL Cases

CLEVELAND - Defendants in the federal welding fume multi-district litigation have asked the presiding judge to designate all remaining cases for medical discovery and allow full pre-trial discovery in all cases already certified as trial-worthy by plaintiffs. In Re: Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation, No. 1:03-CV-17000 (N.D. Ohio).

The request came in a motion filed on May 5 in which defendants argued that the current procedure of identifying 100 cases at a time for medical discovery, and 15 for pre-trial discovery is too slow.

Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley, who presides over the Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation in the …