United States Ninth Circuit

While the factors which guide a court's discretion in ordinary cases on an ordinary docket also inform an multidistrict litigation (MDL) court's decision to invoke dismissal as a sanction for failure to comply with its orders, the court's discretion is necessarily informed, and broadened, by the number of actions, their complexity, and its charge in the multidistrict context to promote the just and efficient conduct of actions that are coordinated or consolidated for pretrial purposes. Judgments of dismissal entered in a MDL products liability proceeding involving an ingredient used in decongestants and weight-control products, for failure to comply with case management orders, are affirmed in part and reversed in part.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/29/2006
• Published 08/29/2006

Judges

• RYMER, Circuit Judge., Before DOROTHY W. NELSON, PAMELA ANN RYMER and RAYMOND C. FISHER, Circuit Judges;  and EDWARD LEAVY, PAMELA ANN RYMER and RAYMOND C. FISHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Damon A. Kirin, Murray Law Firm, New Orleans, LA, for plaintiffs-appellants Allen, Anderson, Clinton, Riley, Holmes and Samuels;  Michael J. Miller, Miller & Associates, Alexandria, VA, for plaintiff-appellant Hill., Stephen B. Murray, Sr., Murray Law Firm, New Orleans, LA, for plaintiffs-appellants Ackel, Arrington, and McGriggs., David B. Vermont, Herman, Mathis, Casey, Kitchens & Gerel, LLP, Alexandria, VA, for plaintiff-appellant Page., Daniel F. Polsenberg, Beckley Singleton, Chtd., Las Vegas, NV, for appellant K.V. Pharmaceuticals., W. Thomas McCraney, III, McCraney & Montagnet, PLLC, Jackson, MS, for plaintiffs-appellants McDaniel and Alford., Leila H. Watson, Cory Watson Crowder & DeGaris, P.C., Birmingham, AL, for plaintiff-appellant Sasseen.


• For Appellees:
  
• Randolph S. Sherman (argued), Kaye Scholer, LLP, New York, NY, and D. Joseph Hurson (signed the briefs), Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP, Seattle, WA, for the defendants-appellees., Terry O. Tottenham, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, Austin, TX, and Douglas A. Hofmann, Williams, Kastner & Gibbs, PLLC, Seattle, WA, for the defendants-appellees., D. Joseph Hurson, Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP, Seattle, WA, for the defendants-appellees., Frank A. Wood, Jr., Watkins & Eager PLLC, Jackson, MS, for defendant-appellee Bayer Corporation., Alan J. Lazarus, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, San Francisco, CA, for all defendants-appellees SmithKline Beecham Corporation (dba Glaxosmithkline) and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, L.P., Brandi J. McKay and Wendy A. Tucker, Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for defendants-appellees Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.