"This petition for the extraordinary writ of mandamus presents an important question concerning the management of appeals in multidistrict litigation under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 when portions of some cases must be returned to their original transferor courts. In this case, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) chose one of two alternative courses. The JPML chose to ensure that each case produces one appeal of all issues in that case, rather than using partial final judgments under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b) to ensure that all related appeals would go to the same circuit. As we explain below, we agree with the JPML that there are strong arguments for both sides of this procedural dispute, and we defer to the JPML's exercise of its discretion in this matter. In terms of the standards for issuing writs of mandamus, we find that the petitioner has failed to show that it has a clear and indisputable right to issuance of the writ, so its petition is denied."
"Delivery drivers for petitioner FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. filed numerous class actions against FedEx alleging that the company improperly classified them as independent contractors rather than employees. Although the cases in federal courts alleged violations of many different state laws, they presented many common questions of fact. Under the authority of 28 U.S.C. § 1407, the JPML consolidated more than 70 of the cases in MDL No. 1700 and transferred those cases to the Northern District of Indiana in 2005 for consolidated pretrial proceedings under the supervision of Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., a veteran district judge with long experience both as a transferee judge managing MDL cases and as a member of the JPML itself. Judge Miller supervised the cases through several years of discovery and motions practice.
No. 11-243 Decided November 17, 2011 (&th Cir CT Appeals),
