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MDL Panel Creates Giant Sucking Sound.

Yes kids, those civil litigators all in quiet mourning today are lamenting the huge loss of business due to the MDL Panel's surprise decision to export dozens of Chinese Drywall cases pending in the SD FL to -- of all places -- Louisiana:

Coral Gables attorney Ervin Gonzalez, who has filed about 20 drywall cases, said the consolidated litigation will allow plaintiff attorneys to share information and avoid costly duplicative court costs.

?I think it?s good we are going to start moving on these cases,? the Colson Hicks Eidson partner said.

Plaintiffs' counsel are less dramatically impacted by this decision, as their ability to organize cases is not necessarily dependent on the location of the litigation, although that sometimes does play a role.

But for defense counsel hired by large firms as local counsel or in the Miami offices of national firms involved in the litigation and hoping to get a big chunk of this work, the MDL Panel decision may have a momentous impact -- potentially millions of dollars in work yanked from our local legal economy and exported to lawyers in Louisiana, who will likely be working with the DC or NY-based offices of national firms.

Oh well, at least it's New Orleans.

(MDL junkies, take heart -- the Panel did send two pieces of litigation our way recently, the Kaplan qui tam cases to "seasoned jurist" Judge Seitz, and the checking overdraft cases to the heavily seasoned Judge King).

Full post as published by South Florida Lawyers on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).