Legal term
Remand
In a sentence
The return of an MDL case to the court where it was originally filed for trial. The law requires it after pretrial ends — but in practice fewer than 3% of MDL cases are ever remanded; most resolve inside the MDL.
The Supreme Court held in Lexecon v. Milberg Weiss that an MDL judge cannot keep transferred cases for trial — after pretrial proceedings they must go home. That is the statutory design. The statistical reality is different: the overwhelming majority of MDL cases end inside the transferee court through settlement or dismissal.
For most plaintiffs this means the 'pretrial' court is effectively the whole case — which is why MDL leadership, bellwether outcomes, and settlement structures matter more to your result than your home courthouse.
