In re Multidistrict Civil Actions Involving the Aircrash Near Duarte
Opinion
lead Opinion
Hall, J.
ORDER TRANSFERRING ALL CASES NOT ORIGINATING IN THIS DISTRICT TO THIS DISTRICT ON ALL ISSUES FOR ALL PURPOSES
The Court has concluded, sua sponte, that all of the cases not originating in this District and originally filed in other Districts which are covered by the above MDL No. 106 should be transferred to this District on all issues and for all purposes. 1
Seventy-two actions were filed in various United States District Courts for the wrongful deaths of the entire forty-nine occupants of an Air West passenger plane which crashed upon collision with a Marine jet on June 6, 1971. Most of the actions were originally filed in this District. A number were filed in other Districts, the titles and numbers of which are hereinafter indicated. They have been transferred by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to this District under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 , under MDL Docket No. 106, see 346 F. Supp. 529 .
On the hearing of the motion to transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 various plaintiffs in other Districts than this one urged that any transfer under § 1407 should be limited to discovery on the issue of liability only. The Court specifically held that it could not sever and transfer…