The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML or the Panel) is a special body within the United States federal court system

United States federal courts

The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...

 which manages multidistrict litigation. It was established by Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 in 1968 under 28 U.S.C. § 1407, and has the authority to determine whether civil actions

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

 pending in two or more federal judicial districts

United States federal judicial district

For purposes of the federal judicial system, Congress has divided the United States into judicial districts. There are 94 federal judicial districts, including at least one district in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico...

 should be transferred to a single federal district court for pretrial proceedings. If such cases are determined to involve one or more common questions of fact

Question of fact

In law, a question of fact is a question which must be answered by reference to facts and evidence, and inferences arising from those facts. Such a question is distinct from a question of law, which must be answered by applying relevant legal principles...

 and are transferred, the Panel will then select the district court

United States district court

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...

 and assign a judge or judges to preside over the litigation. The purpose of the transfer or "centralization" process is to conserve the resources of the parties and their counsel, as well as the judiciary, thus avoiding duplication of discovery

Discovery (law)

In U.S.law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the opposing party by means of discovery devices including requests for answers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for...

 and preventing inconsistent pretrial rulings.

The Chief Justice of the United States

Chief Justice of the United States

The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...

 appoints the members of the JPML, which is composed of seven district or court of appeals

United States courts of appeals

The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...

 judges, each of whom must be from a different judicial circuit. In addition to their participation on the Panel, the members continue to serve as judges for the courts to which they were originally appointed. The Panel convenes hearings in various locations around the country to facilitate the participation of parties and their counsel. Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 is the location of the Office of the Clerk of the Panel.

As of September 30, 2011, the Panel had consolidated over 390,000 lawsuits into over 1,450 multidistrict litigations. These dockets encompass litigation categories as diverse as securities fraud

Securities fraud

Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws....

, drugs and other products liability cases, intellectual property

Intellectual property

Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...

 infringement, airplane crashes

Aviation accidents and incidents

An aviation accident is defined in the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, in which a...

 and employment practices.

Current composition of the Panel

The following members comprise the panel:

Name	Court
John G. Heyburn II John G. Heyburn II John G. Heyburn II is an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Heyburn served as the Chief Judge of the Court between 2001 and 2008.-Early life and education:...  (Chairman)	Western District of Kentucky United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky The United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky is the federal district court for the western part of the state of Kentucky....
Kathryn H. Vratil	District of Kansas United States District Court for the District of Kansas The United States District Court for the District of Kansas is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Kansas. The Court operates out of the Robert J. Dole United States Courthouse in Kansas City, the Frank Carlson Federal Building in Topeka, and the United States Courthouse...
W. Royal Furgeson, Jr.	Northern District of Texas United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas is a United States district court. Its first judge, Andrew Phelps McCormick, was appointed to the court on April 10, 1879. The court convenes in Dallas, Texas with divisions in Fort Worth, Amarillo, Abilene, Lubbock, San Angelo...
Barbara S. Jones Barbara S. Jones Barbara Sue Jones is a United States federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.-Early life and education:Born in Inglewood, California, Jones received a Bachelor of Arts from Mount St...	Southern District of New York United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
Paul J. Barbadoro Paul J. Barbadoro Paul J. Barbadoro is a United States District Judge for the District of New Hampshire.Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Paul grew up in Acton, Massachusetts. Barbadoro graduated from Gettysburg College in 1977 and earned a J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1980...	District of New Hampshire United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire The United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of New Hampshire. The Warren B. Rudman U.S...
Marjorie O. Rendell	United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:* District of Delaware* District of New Jersey...
Charles R. Breyer Charles R. Breyer -Early life and career:Born in San Francisco, California, Breyer received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1963 and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1966. He was a law clerk to Oliver Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of...	United States District Court for the Northern District of California United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San...