Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-2_09-cv-00097/USCOURTS-azd-2_09-cv-00097-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 365
Nature of Suit: Personal Injury - Product Liability
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Product Liability

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Marjorie Hooks, 

Plaintiff, 

vs.

Actavis Totowa, LLC; et al., 

Defendants. 

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No. CV-09-0097-PHX-LOA

ORDER

This case arises on Attorney Gregory A. Malkin’s Motion to Withdraw as

attorney for Plaintiff Marjorie Hooks. (Doc. 19) Overlooking his multiple violations of the

Local Rules (LRCiv 83.3(b), 7.1(a)(3), and 7.1(b)(2)), counsel requests an order withdrawing

him from this case as Plaintiff’s counsel.

The docket reflects that on August 13, 2008, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict

Litigation designated the Southern District of West Virginia as the appropriate forum for

MDL No. 1968, and, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407(a), ordered the Digitek products liability

litigation transferred and assigned to Honorable Joseph R. Goodwin for pretrial

consolidation and coordination. (Doc. 18) The February 13, 2009 MDL Conditional

Transfer Order was filed with the Clerk of the Court, District of Arizona, on March 6, 2009.

(Id.)

A MDL transfer is effective when the order of transfer is “filed in the office

of the clerk of the district court of the transferee district.” 28 U.S.C. § 1407(c). “When the

Case 2:09-cv-00097-LOA Document 20 Filed 10/25/10 Page 1 of 2
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transfer becomes effective, ‘the jurisdiction of the transferor court ceases and the transferee

court has exclusive jurisdiction.’” In re Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) Products Liability

Litigation, 460 F.3d 1217, 1230 (9th Cir. 2006) (quoting Manual For Complex Litigation

§ 20.131 at 220 and Multidistrict Litigation Manual, § 9.1 (explaining that upon transfer of

the litigation “the divestment of [the transferor court’s] jurisdiction is complete”)). “A

transferee judge exercises all the powers of a district judge in the transferee district under the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and ‘may make any pretrial order that the transferor court

might have made in the absence of a transfer.’” Id. at 1230-31.

Plaintiff’s counsel has made no showing that the MDL Panel has remanded this

individual case back to the District of Arizona, where it was originally filed, for trial. 28

U.S.C. § 1407(a) (“Each action so transferred shall be remanded by the panel at or before

the conclusion of such pretrial proceedings to the district court from which it was transferred

unless it shall have been previously terminated. . . .”). 

Accordingly,

IT IS ORDERED that Attorney Gregory A. Malkin’s Motion to Withdraw

as attorney for Plaintiff Marjorie Hooks, doc. 19, is DENIED without prejudice and, if

appropriate, may be re-filed in the Southern District of West Virginia. 

Dated this 25th day of October, 2010.

Case 2:09-cv-00097-LOA Document 20 Filed 10/25/10 Page 2 of 2