MDL Panel Vacates Conditional Transfer Order in Cancer Case

NEW ORLEANS - The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has vacated a conditional order transferring to the federal MDL a case in which the plaintiff alleges laryngeal cancer, rather than neurological illness, was caused by welding fumes. Pellegal v. Lincoln Electric Co., et al., No. 2:08-30 [In Re: Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1535, N.D. Ohio] (E.D. La.).

In a one-page order, the Judicial Panel said on June 5 that Etienne Pellegal's case differs from other cases in the MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and transfer "would not necessarily serve the …