Judicial Panel Grants Defense Request, Unopposed by Plaintiffs, for Pretrial Coordination of Class Action Lawsuits Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 of Class Action Lawsuits Alleging Antitrust Conspiracy
Four federal antitrust class action lawsuits, two in Tennessee and two in Indiana, were filed against various defendants alleging that they “engaged in a conspiracy to artificially increase, maintain, and/or stabilize prices of orthopaedic implants.” In re Orthopaedic Implant Device Antitrust Litig., 483 F.Supp.2d 1355 (Jud.Pan.Mult.Lit. 2007). Defense attorneys for several of the defendants – specifically, Zimmer Holdings, Zimmer, Inc., Stryker Corp., Biomet, DePuy Orthopaedics and/or DePuy, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and Smith & Nephew plc and Smith & Nephew, Inc., id., at 1355 n.2 – filed a motion with the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) requesting centralization of the class actions pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 in the Southern District of Indiana; plaintiffs’ lawyers did not oppose the motion, and agreed as well to centralization in the Northern District of Indiana. Id. The Judicial Panel granted the motion to centralize the class actions and agreed that the Southern District of Indiana was an appropriate transferee court, noting that it is the district “where related grand jury proceedings are located and the first-filed action is pending, [and] enjoys the support of all parties.” Id.
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