Opinion
No. 17-2056 MDL No. 2545
01-19-2018
IN RE: TESTOSTERONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION RODNEY GUILBEAU, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PFIZER, INC. and PHARMACIA & UPJOHN COMPANY, LLC, Defendants-Appellees.
Before WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge DAVID F. HAMILTON, Circuit Judge SARA L. DARROW, District Judge Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Master Docket Case No. 1:14-cv-01748 Matthew F. Kennelly, District Judge.
Of the Central District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
ORDER
In the multidistrict litigation docket that gave rise to this appeal (MDL No. 2545), the district court dismissed all cases with prejudice that involved the above-named defendants, Pfizer, Inc. and Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, LLC, the makers of the drug Depo-Testosterone. Some of the more than one thousand individual cases subject to this appeal were resolved by final judgments, see Master Dkt. Nos. 1824, 1969, while others were resolved by partial final judgments pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b), see Master Dkt. Nos. 1865, 1970. By separate opinion issued today, we affirm the district court's decisions with respect to both the defendants' preemption defense and the denial of discovery on the preemption defense.
The district court explained its conclusions in several case management orders issued March 7, 2016, March 30, 2017, April 18, 2017 and May 26, 2017. See Master Dkt. Nos. 1211, 1824, 1865, 1969, 1970. --------
In the course of briefing this appeal, however, the parties have since noted the lack of complete diversity of citizenship in forty of the cases affected by these District Court orders. The list of these cases, contained in Appellate Dkt. 15-1, is reproduced below. In each case, there is at least one defendant who is a citizen of the same state as the plaintiff, which would ordinarily deprive the federal courts of subject matter jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a),(c); McCready v. eBay, Inc., 453 F.3d 882, 890-91 (7th Cir. 2006) (noting complete diversity requirement). Though some cases may involve only one (non-diverse) defendant, it is possible that some of these cases may be properly brought against remaining diverse defendants and that the non-diverse defendants could and should be dismissed to preserve subject matter jurisdiction. It would be possible in theory for us to take these forty cases one by one to decide whether the non-diverse defendants are dispensable parties who should be dismissed on appeal. See Newman-Green, Inc. v. Alfonzo-Larrain, 490 U.S. 826 (1989); 28 U.S.C. § 1653 (allowing amendment of defective jurisdictional allegations in both trial and appellate courts). Given the number of these cases, the paucity of relevant information before us, and the district court's much greater familiarity with the details of the litigation and its effective management, we think the better course is to have the district court sort out these jurisdictional problems with more detailed assistance from counsel.
Accordingly, due to a lack of complete diversity of citizenship, the final judgments or partial final judgments entered by the district court in the cases listed below are VACATED and REMANDED for proceedings consistent with this order and the accompanying opinion issued in this appeal, No. 17-2056.
CASES AFFECTED
Plaintiff/District Court Case No. Plaintiff's Citizenship Non-Diverse Defendant(s) to be Dismissed Master Docket Document Ordering Dismissal Final Judgment Cases Evans, Sr. Glenn E., 16-cv-3668 CA McKesson Corporation 1824 Puryear, David, 16-cv-3650 CA McKesson Corporation 1824 Barrett, Thomas, 16-cv-7627 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Bowen, III, Clinton, 16-cv-8749 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Dougherty, Michael, 15-cv-2824 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Dunn, Lawrence, 16-cv-1363 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Gomez, Luiz C., 16-cv-10157 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Hampton, Duane, 15-cv-9564 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Knight, Andre L., 16-cv-6039 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Lewis, Russell, 15-cv-8889 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 4 Lockner, Steven, 16-cv-8912 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Mangas, Brian, 16-cv-7617 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 McClerkin, Duncan, 15-cv-4757 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Morgan, Michael, 15-cv-6038 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Naragon, Robert C., 15-cv-6546 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Orzel, John F., 15-cv-11598 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Patrick, Tony N., 16-cv-4578 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Sawyers, Dennis, 15-cv-7590 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Stapples, Herman, 15-cv-11418 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1824 Craig, Michael A., 17-cv-1451 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1969 Fleeger, David, 17-cv-465 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1969 Griffith, Gary, 17-cv-558 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1969 5 Hitz, Frank F., 17-cv-685 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1969 Rule 54(b) Cases Canion, Thomas, 15-cv-6448 GA AbbVie Products LLC 1865 Henderson, Ronald E., 16-cv- 1527 GA AbbVie Products LLC 1865 Johnson, Ralph Derrell, 16-cv- 1277 GA AbbVie Products LLC 1865 Linkous, Brian K., 16-cv-7186 GA AbbVie Products LLC 1865 Tallevast, John, 16-cv-1772 GA AbbVie Products LLC 1865 Thompson, Roger, 16-cv-1716 GA AbbVie Products LLC 1865 Crawford, Edward Lee, 16-cv- 1397 FL Anda, Inc. 1865 Gagnier, Peter T., 16-cv-1349 FL Anda, Inc. 1865 Jackson, Roosevelt, 16-cv-1158 FL Anda, Inc. 1865 King, John, 16-cv-3194 VA Besins Healthcare Inc. 1865 Baggett, Dennie, 16-cv-7404 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1865 Coursen, Michael, 16-cv-2676 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1865 Harte, Patrick, 16-cv-3946 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1865 Howse, Jr., John, 16-cv-1521 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1865 6 Sutphin, Anthony, 16-cv-4485 MI Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC 1865 Barton, Terry, 17-cv-2262 FL Anda, Inc. 1970 Coffey, Robert J., 17-cv-626 FL Anda, Inc. 1970