Class Action

Class Action Defense Cases—In re PepsiCo: Judicial Panel On Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) Grants Unopposed Defense Motion To Centralize Class Action Litigation In The Southern District Of New York

By Michael J. Hassen

Judicial Panel Grants Defense Request for Pretrial Coordination of Individual and Class Action Lawsuits Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407, and Accepts Defense Recommendation that Lawsuits be Transferred to the Southern District of New York

Four individual and class action lawsuits (two in New York, one in Tennessee and one in Texas) were filed against PepsiCo and Pepsi Bottling Group (Pepsi) arising “from allegations that Pepsi misled consumers of its Aquafina bottled water into believing that the water source of Aquafina was something different from and better than tap water.” In re PepsiCo, Inc., Bottled Water Marketing & Sales Prac. Litig., ___ F.Supp.2d ___ (Jud.Pan.Mult.Lit. February 14, 2008) [Slip Opn., at 1]. Defense attorneys filed a motion with the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) requesting centralization of the litigation pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 in the Southern District of New York; the motion was unopposed. Id. The Judicial Panel granted the motion for centralization, and agreed that the Southern District of New York was an appropriate transferee court; accordingly, it ordered the class actions pending outside that district transferred to New York. Id., at 1-2.

Full post as published by Class Action Defense Blog on April 20, 2008 (boomark / email).