And Now A Word From The Panel: MDLs As A Last Resort

Welcome to the latest installment of And Now a Word from the Panel, a column that "rides the circuit" with the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation as it meets on a bimonthly basis.

With baseball's opening day in the rearview mirror, the panel heads back east this month, to the home of last year's National League champions, Philadelphia. At its May 25 hearing, the panel is scheduled to hear seven new MDL petitions — an increase from the five heard at the March hearing session in Tucson, a city without major league baseball.