Opinion
No. 13 C 5795 MDL No. 2455 No. 13 C 2499 No. 13 C 3448
2013-09-12
IN RE STERICYCLE, INC. STERISAFE CONTRACT LITIGATION LYNDON VETERINARY CLINIC, PLLC, Plaintiff, v. STERICYCLE, INC., Defendant. HARRY C. MIDGLEY, III, et al., Plaintiff, v. STERICYCLE, INC., Defendant.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
This Court, having initially been assigned the above-cited Lyndon action under this Court's random assignment system, has since been assigned the above-listed multidistrict proceeding by the Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. At present the usual procedure of designating class counsel, of fashioning a consolidated complaint to supplant the individual complaints that come under the rubric of the MDL umbrella and of conducting other appropriate organizational matters are in the works and will be dealt with in the ordinary course.
Meanwhile, some pending motions show up on the Motions Report that this Court obtains covering all the cases on its calendar. To eliminate such needless clutter, Dkt. Nos. 34 and 41 in the Lyndon case and Dkt. Nos. 27, 33 and 36 in the Midgley case are denied without prejudice.
For example, Stericycle responded to both the Lyndon and the Midgley Complaints with Fed. R. Civ. P. ("Rule") 12(b)(6) motions that are certain to be supplanted when a single consolidated Complaint and the other aspects of MDL case handling take over.
If and to the extent that any matters raised in those now-denied motions are viewed by movants' counsel as still relevant when the contemplated consolidated reorganization takes place (say, for example, matters raised in Stericycle's Rule 12(b)(6) motions that it may view as still applicable to the consolidated complaint), movants' counsel will not be required to reinvent the wheel by filing new self-contained motions. Instead they are free to incorporate aspects of their earlier motions by reference if they find that to be a more convenient form of presentation.
This Court also notes from its most recent Motions Report that Dkt. No. 15 in the umbrella case (13 C 5795), Lyndon's motion to set a preliminary case schedule, is shown as still pending. In light of this Court's discussion with counsel at the most recent status hearing, that motion is also denied without prejudice (it being anticipated that such a schedule will be established in the regular course, as discussed orally at the status hearing).
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Milton I. Shadur
Senior United States District Judge