Resource for Actos Judges

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State Court/Actos Judges
 

In the continual effort to coordinate the MDL Actos cases with Actos cases in state court, the Honorable Rebecca F. Doherty has created a special webpage on the MDL website designed especially to provide information for State Court Judges with Actos cases (“Actos Judges”).  As noted in the Annotated Manual for Complex Litigation, Fourth (2004), Judges have undertaken innovative efforts to coordinate parallel or related litigation to reduce costs, delay, and duplication of efforts, to take advantage of the economies of consolidated discovery, and to avoid conflicts in dates that often arise from dispersed litigation.[1]  The creation of a page on the MDL website devoted especially for Actos Judges is intended to be one of the innovative efforts of coordination.

"Reciprocity and cooperation create trust and mutual respect” between federal and state jurists and such efforts are not intended or designed as veiled methods to dominate.[2]

Judge Doherty wishes to develop relationships among all the Judges with Actos cases in order to enhance coordination and make more transparent the coordination effort.[3]  She welcomes any communications from any Judge.  Her contact information is:

Honorable Rebecca F. Doherty
United States District Judge
800 Lafayette Street, Suite 4900
Lafayette, LA 70501
(337) 593-5050
 
  
Calendar
 
Judge Doherty has a scheduled monthly status conference, which begins at 10:30 CT, and opens it telephonically to any Judge with an Actos case on his/her docket.  Whether just to listen or, hopefully, participate in the discussions in the status conferences, Judge Doherty welcomes any judge. Protocols to dial in to the status conference have been established and have been provided to all state judges by way of the Court’s or State Liaison Counsel’s correspondence. 
 
Additional questions or details of the dial in protocols can be provided by State Liaison Counsel or Judge Doherty’s law clerk.  If any judge wished to dial-in,  Judge Doherty's law clerk, Shreedhar Patel, at 337-593-5050 or Shreedhar_Patel@lawd.uscourts.gov, must be notified,  Mr. Patel will then alert the conference call in operator to open the line for any judge to speak.

The status conference dates for 2013 are:

 
  
MDL Orders
 
The MDL website has all the orders issued under the tabs “General Orders by Category” and “General Orders by Date”.  For your convenience, the following orders are listed, as they might be particularly relevant or interesting to Actos Judges:
Pre-trial Order Instructions (Doc. 2602-1)
Pre-trial Order (Doc. 2602-2)
 
 
Special Masters
 
Three Special Masters were appointed at the outset to assist the Court and the parties to move the cases forward in an efficient and innovative manner.  Any Actos Judge should feel free to contact them with any questions or issues.  Judge Doherty and the MDL litigants have found the Special Masters to be an effectual resource, and will offer their services to any Actos judge.

The Special Masters are:

Gary J. Russo, Special Master
Jones Walker
600 Jefferson Street, Suite 1600
P.O. Drawer 3408
Lafayette, LA 70502-3408
Telephone: (337) 593-7610
Fax: (337) 593-7601
 
Carmen M. Rodriguez, Deputy Special Master
Jones Walker
600 Jefferson Street, Suite 1600
P.O. Drawer 3408
Lafayette, LA 70502-3408
Telephone: (337) 593-7622
Fax: (337) 593-7601
 
Kenneth W. Dejean, Deputy Special Master (Plaintiff’s Side Only)
417 West University Avenue
Post Office Box 4325
Lafayette, LA 70502
Telephone: (337) 235-5294
Fax: (337) 235-1095
 
 
State Liaison Counsel
 
In order to achieve the goals of cooperation and coordination, the Court has appointed an attorney from each side to assist with this effort.  These counsel are available to all Actos Judges at any time.
 
Dawn M. Barrios, Esq.
Barrios, Kingsdorf & Casteix, LLP
701 Poydras Street, Suite 3650
New Orleans, LA  70139
Telephone: 504.524.3300
Fax: 504.524.3313
Plaintiff
 
Sherry A. Knutson
Sidley Austin LLP
One South Dearborn, 32nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60603
Telephone: 312-853-4710
Fax: 312-853-7036
Defense
 
The State Liaison Counsel will continue to update Actos Judges with information from the MDL periodically.
 
 
Actos Law Clerk
 
The Actos MDL law clerk is Shreedhar Patel.  He can be reached at 337-593-5050 and Shreedhar_Patel@lawd.uscourts.gov.  He is available to discuss any Actos litigation issue and can provide direct access to Judge Doherty.
We hope this special tab on the MDL website is helpful to Actos Judges.  If any judge has ideas or other matters, which would enhance the coordination and cooperation effort or improve this site, please contact Judge Doherty or her law clerk, one of the Special Masters, or one of the State Liaison Counsel.

[1] Annotated Manual For Complex Litigation Sec. 20.31 (4th ed. 2010)
[2] Id. Sec. 20.311
[3] Id. Sec. 20.312