A. Composite Number Assigned. Whenever the Court consents to the
transfer of a group of actions to this district in order to hold coordinated or
consolidated pretrial proceedings as set forth in Title 28 U.S.C. § 1407, the group
of actions shall be given the composite number previously assigned by the
Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Individual actions within the group shall
be given specific civil action numbers.
B. Clerk of Court to Maintain Multidistrict Docket Sheet. The Clerk of Court
shall maintain a multidistrict litigation docket sheet for the group of actions
compositely numbered, as well as an individual docket sheet for each separate
action. All pleadings, papers, depositions, interrogatories, and other documents
or material, relating to two or more actions shall be entered only on the
multidistrict litigation docket sheet. If such pleading or document relates to a
single action only, it shall be entered on the individual action docket sheet.
C. No Separate Appearance Required. Counsel who entered an appearance
in the transferor court prior to the transfer need not enter a separate appearance
before this Court.
D. Notification of Representing Counsel. Upon receipt of an order of transfer,
attorneys representing litigants in transferred cases shall notify the Clerk of this
Court of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of attorneys of record.
No litigant may list more than one attorney as its legal representative for the
purpose of service.
E. Liaison Counsel to be Designated. Prior to the first pretrial conference,
counsel for plaintiffs and for defendants shall designate, subject to the approval
of the Court, liaison counsel. Liaison counsel shall be authorized to receive
notices on behalf of the parties by whom they have been designated. They shall
be responsible for the preparation and transmittal of copies of such notices as
they may receive as liaison counsel to each of the attorneys included on the list
prepared in accordance with the preceding paragraph.
F. Only Original Documents to be Filed. Unless the Judicial Panel on
Multidistrict Litigation or this Court by order specifically otherwise directs for a
specific case or group of cases, only the original of all documents shall be filed
with the Clerk of this Court; provided, however, upon remand, it shall be the
responsibility of the attorneys who filed a given document to furnish an adequate
number of copies for transmittal to the transferor Court. The Clerk of Court shall
notify counsel of the number of copies needed. The copies shall be furnished
within thirty (30) days from the date of notification of remand. Upon receipt of an
order of the Judicial Panel transferring or remanding cases, without further order
of this Court, the Clerk of Court shall assemble the files, together with their
documentation, and forward the files as directed by the Judicial Panel.
November 1, 2016 Local Rules of Court
Western District of Pennsylvania
