Legal term
JPML Transfer Order
Updated Jul 20, 20261 sources
In a sentence
The order that creates or expands an MDL — moving cases from courts around the country to the transferee judge. It marks the moment scattered lawsuits become coordinated litigation.
When the Panel grants centralization, its transfer order names the transferee district and judge and begins routing existing and future 'tag-along' cases there. The order's reasoning — common questions, convenience, efficiency — frames the litigation's scope.
Transfer is pretrial only: cases keep their identity and, formally, their right to return home for trial (see remand and Lexecon rights). Docket watchers read new transfer orders as the starting gun for a tort's institutional phase.
