Procedural Self-Inflicted Wounds?

A proposal has recently come before the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Commit- tee to expand the ability of parties in multidistrict litigation to seek immediate interlocutory appellate review. This Essay suggests that the proposal is unwise as a matter of policy. It would make MDL litigation more expensive and less efficient. Counterintuitively, it may even harm the very large corporations who are championing the change.

This Essay explains why that might occur—why large corporate defendants may pursue legal innovations that harm them—a possibility with implications well beyond interlocutory appellate review.