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Case 1:05-cv—OO914-JJF Document 21-25 Filed O1/12/2006 Page1 of 3

Case 1 :05-cv-00914-JJF Document 21-25 Filed O1/12/2006 Page 2 of 3
- 31 of 49 DOCUMENTS
ALFRED DAVIS VERSUS BAYER CORPORATION, ET AL.
CIVIL ACTION NO: 02-0833 SECTION: "R"(1) .
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF
LOUISIANA
n _ 2002 ILS. Dist. LEHS 9151
May 16, 2002, Decided
May 16, 2002, Filed, Entered
t]?1ISPOSITION: [*1] Defendants motion for a stay of ORDER AND REASONS
€.p1'OC€€d1I1gS g1'B.IllCBd. . _
Before the Court is defendants' motion for a stay.
LexisNexis(R) Headnotes For the following reasons, the Court grants the motion.
I. BACKGROUND
COUNSEL: For ALFRED DAVIS, SR, plaintiff: Swan A .
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. Smith & Harang, LLC, Barry James Cooper, Ir., Cooper tmim Or amages m sialic Court agamstt C aycr O1-P0-
LaWFi1_m LLC New Orleans LA p ration, Walgreen Louisiana Company, Inc. (dfb/a Wal-
’ ’ ’ ` greens), K&B of Louisiana Corporation (d/b/a Rite-Aid)
RR BAYER CORPORATION, RRRRRR, .].011]] eee Eekeed Skeeeeeeee O1mdc’ Charles P. Blanchard, Mary Lama Meyer, damages for injuries he allegedly sustained as a result of
Chaffc Mccall Phillips TOIEI & Sarpy LLP New O1__ mgestmg Alka-Seltzer Plus and Contac, two oVer-t]1e- .
leans IZA ’ ’ ’ ’ counter medications that contain Phenylpropanolamine
’ ` - (PPA). On February 5, 2002, Davis amended his petition
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Erik Etherton Tnutt, The Trtutt Law Firm, Mad1sonv1lle, to this com on March 22, 2002, invoking the Comfs R
` diversity jurisdiction. Defendants move to stay all pro- \
For K&B LOUISIANA CORPORATION RITBAID ceedings pending transfer by the Judicial Panel on Mul- I
CORPORATION dafmdmlw W Paul ’ Andersson tidistrict Litigation. Defendants maintain that a stay is ·
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RR ECKERD CORPORATION, C-l.BfC1`ld8I`llZZ Mark R Wgetjeeigge kegege kljeg Jekeiek R
Seamster, Russell Weeks Rudolph, Glen Ray Galbraith, il; Oijplxsitizlgloio dgfg;da;tS1?1?;§fj§’g€u;l};§;£_%acg?]t;I;;é;é . I
Seale, Daigle & Ross, LLP, Hammond, LA. n , , , ’ _ I
that this Court is better suited to nile on the issues of ,
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Irwin, V, Kim E. Moore, Stephanie Lottinger Irwin, Ir- . ` .
Wm Fmchic Urquhart & MODE, LLC, New Orleans: LA. contends that a stay will delay the matter and cause lnm
U.1‘l.l‘l€C€SS&I`y BXPCIISS. _
JUDGES: SARAH S. VANCE, UNITED STATES
Dtsriucr JUDGE. H· DISCUSSION
"The pendency of the transfer order does not in any
OPINIONBY: SARAH S. VANCE way defeat or limit the authority of this Court to rule
upon matters properly presented to it for decision." Cal-
OPINION: via Boudreaux v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 1995 US.
_ Dist. LEXIS 265d 1995 WL 83788, *1 (E.D. La. p

Case 1:05-cv-00914-JJF Document 21-25 Filed O1/12/2006 Page 3 of 3
{ Page 2
2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9151, *
l995)(citing In re Air Crash at Paris, France, 376 F. alleging damages as a result of the ingestion of PPA in
Supp. 887 (IPML 1974)). The decision whether to stay which the plaintiffs assert Louisiana redbibition claims
proceedings is discretionary, and the exercise of discre- against nondiverse retail sellers. See Bayer's Ex. N,
tion is guided by the policies of justice and efficiency. Id. James Bowman v. Bayer Corporation, et al., No. 01-
1802-A, at El l1l..1I`Ill)€I.' of CHSCS lIlVOlVi.l1g
- - ---- ; as s . I . PPA have been consolidated and transferred to the West-
¤. 7~§?sEFi*faZ¥*iiF§,?ii}tl.€.i..itigi§°5%*5.%EV ' . i s at - - - - - -
·-=‘ ti a a. Western District of Louisiana, and many other Louisiana .
_ ;.s ga-h is : 53, :;; r ig · Ee pasttgga rx IH F6 . . - I
01 Fri ‘tr r ” or . d cases have been conditionally transferred and await [*5] I
,,?;1_mm1 La til ( E20 d t)' . E thtms crcidu gi. a fmal ruling. See Bayer's Ex. B, In re Phenyipropa-
remand yandsif tiepginznd ,5;; are cminggcfolxlagy nolamine (PPA) Products Liability Litigation, Transfer
’ . . . Order MDL No. 1407, August 28, 2001. The Court fmds
Of the PPA fascsf dfclsulns by thc transfém? Judge that because the issues involved in this remand are likely
would avoid duplicative discovery and conflicting pre- b h f d th 1. . {
u1a1m11¤gS.·· cava sauamata, 1995 as. oai. taxis li,. ‘? °°m‘“°§ *° °t. ii “a“S 1‘§“" ,‘f*"fS;u,.° p° ‘°‘°j.u‘I{
. . e 1c1ency an consis ency o pre- a 1I1gS are -
2656* 1995 WL 83 788. at *2 [*4] (qwtmg In re Aw thered by a stay of the proceedings in this Court pending
Crash Disaster at Florida, 368 FZ Supp. 812, 813 (JPML d . . th f fth. th MDL
1973)). _ a ecision on e trans er o is case to e .
Here, defendants challenge the joinder of the nondi- HI. Conclusion _ I
verse defendants, Walgreens and K&B Corporation . A
(cl/b/a Rite-Aid), on a number of grounds. For example, fm d§;;,d;U£::$.§;_1;gS§;S;];15;€t];;O$;2ufl§11§RANTS dc-
defendants claim that some of plaintiffs Louisiana `
redhibition claims are time-barred and that even viewing New Orleans, Louisiana, this 16th dy of May,
the undisputed facts in the light most favorable to plain- 2002.
tiff, no reasonable basis exists under which plaintiff F H _
could prevail against the nondiverse defendant. As Mag- S S' VANCE
istrate Judge Kirk noted in a ruling on a motion to stay in UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
a PPA case in the Western District of Louisiana, there -
are numerous cases in districts throughout Louisiana