It’s almost impossible to imagine a case that sounds more boring than “In re: Chinese-Manufactured Drywall Products Liability Litigation.” In this multidistrict potboiler, the judge stayed an insurance coverage action, apparently hoping to facilitate a global settlement.
Unfortunately, nothing was moving forward, prompting the Trust to ask the court to lift the stay to get things moving. Counsel didn’t take any chances that the court might miss her point, punching up her memorandum in support of the motion to lift the stay with a dramatic journalistic touch:
Since this Court stayed the insurance coverage action ten months ago last March, no global mediation of the insurance coverage action has been held.
There is no global mediation of the insurance coverage action scheduled.
There is no global mediation of the insurance coverage action being set up.
No date. No location. No notification of participants. No contact of all global insurance coverage participants. Silence.
Since the Court stayed this insurance coverage action, policyholders have been left in a purgatory in the insurance coverage action with no action advancing a global resolution of the insurance coverage action whatsoever.
I can’t wait to see how this litigation ends … er, if it ends.
—Chinese Drywall Litigation Memorandum, MDL 2047, E.D. La., Jan. 10, 2012. Thanks to Andrei Bogos.
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