IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

IN RE: DIET DRUGS :

(PHENTERMINE/FENFLURAMINE/ : MDL NO. 1203

DEXFENFLURAMINE) :

PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION :

:

THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO: :

______________________________:

:

JANICE ELSTROTT, et al. :

:

v. :

:

AMERICAN HOME PRODUCTS :

CORPORATION, et al. : CIVIL ACTION NO. 02-20134

MEMORANDUM AND PRETRIAL ORDER NO. 

Bartle, J. March , 2005

To address misjoinder issues, and to facilitate the

efficient administration of discovery, we issued Pretrial Order No.

("PTO") 3370, which requires the severance of multi-plaintiff

actions in MDL No. 1203. See PTO No. 3370, § II (Mar. 24, 2004).

Pursuant to Paragraph 6 of PTO No. 3370, the Special Discovery

Master identified the above-referenced action for severance. See

id. at ¶ 5. This action involves five (5) plaintiffs who have

asserted various claims against American Home Products Corporation,

Ion Laboratories, Inc., Gate Pharmaceuticals, Geneva

Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,

Interneuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., A.H. Robins Company, Inc., Eon

Labs Manufacturing, Inc., Celltech Medeva, Watson Laboratories,

Case 2:02-cv-20134-HB Document 5 Filed 03/16/2005 Page 1 of 6
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Colin Bailey, M.D., Roland S. Waguespack, M.D., Wyeth-Ayerst

Laboratories, Co., and Smithkline Beecham Corporation.

Rule 21 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides

in part that "[p]arties may be dropped or added by order of the

court ... at any stage of the action and on such terms as are

just." Pursuant to this rule, courts may sever misjoined parties

when their claims do not arise out of the same transaction,

occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences, and the

claims will not involve a question of law or fact common to all

parties. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 20; see also Norwood Co. v. RLI Ins.

Co., et al., Civ. A. No. 01-6153, 2002 WL 523946, at *1 (E.D. Pa.

Apr. 4, 2002). In addition, courts may sever parties for the

"efficient administration of justice." See Moore’s Federal

Practice § 21.02(1); see also Official Comm. of Unsecured Creditors

v. Shapiro, et al., 190 F.R.D. 352, 355 (E.D. Pa. 2000). An action

severed under Rule 21 becomes an independent action. See Degen v.

Bunce, et al., Civ. A. No. 93-5674, 1995 WL 120483, at *3 (E.D. Pa.

Mar. 13, 1995).

The claims asserted by the plaintiffs against Wyeth and

the other defendant’s in this action are based upon plaintiffs'

alleged ingestion of the diet drugs Pondimin and/or Redux and

injuries they allegedly sustained as a result of said ingestion.

The claims are not otherwise related. The grouping of such claims

in a single action does not satisfy the transaction or occurrence

Case 2:02-cv-20134-HB Document 5 Filed 03/16/2005 Page 2 of 6
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requirement of Rule 20. Accordingly, plaintiffs in this action are

misjoined.

In addition, such multi-plaintiff actions with unrelated

claims impede the efficient administration of MDL No. 1203.

Oftentimes it is unclear from the Complaint which plaintiffs are

asserting which claims against which named defendants. Multiplaintiff actions complicate discovery and interfere with its

completion in accordance with assigned deadlines.

Severance of this and other multi-plaintiff actions will

require each plaintiff to file a Severed and Amended Complaint that

provides the necessary information about his or her claims.

Thereafter, new deadlines will be assigned to govern discovery in

each individual case, thereby allowing for the completion of

discovery and the resolution of issues that may arise on a case-bycase basis. Proceeding in this manner streamlines the remand of

actions to the appropriate transferor courts and minimizes the

burden placed upon those courts due to the volume of litigation in

MDL No. 1203.

Therefore, we will order this action to be severed into

separate actions. Each plaintiff shall file a Severed and Amended

Complaint no later than sixty (60) days of the date of this Order

pursuant to Paragraphs 7, 8, 10, and 12 of PTO No. 3370, each of

which shall be assigned a separate, but related, Civil Action

Number. No new claims or new defendants may be added without prior

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leave of court. See PTO No. 3370, § II, ¶ 10. In addition,

because an action severed under Rule 21 becomes an independent

action, each plaintiff who files a Severed and Amended Complaint,

except for the first named plaintiff who files a Severed and

Amended Complaint, shall remit to the Clerk of Court a filing fee

in the amount of $250.00, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1914. Failure to

remit this fee will result in the dismissal with prejudice of any

and all claims asserted by the plaintiff. 

Case 2:02-cv-20134-HB Document 5 Filed 03/16/2005 Page 4 of 6
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

IN RE: DIET DRUGS :

(PHENTERMINE/FENFLURAMINE/ : MDL NO. 1203

DEXFENFLURAMINE) :

PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION :

:

THIS DOCUMENT RELATES TO: :

______________________________:

:

JANICE ELSTROTT, et al. :

:

v. :

:

AMERICAN HOME PRODUCTS :

CORPORATION, et al. : CIVIL ACTION NO. 02-20134

PRETRIAL ORDER NO. 

AND NOW, this day of March, 2005, for the reasons

set forth in the accompanying Memorandum, it is hereby ORDERED

that:

(1) pursuant to Rule 21 of the Federal Rules of Civil

Procedure, the above-captioned action shall be severed into

separate civil actions;

(2) each plaintiff and his or her derivative claimants

shall submit for filing a Severed and Amended Complaint no later

than sixty (60) days of the date of this Order and in accordance

with Paragraphs 7, 8, 10, and 12 of Pretrial Order No. 3370;

(3) the Clerk of Court shall assign a separate Civil

Action Number, which shall be related to Civil Action Number 02-

20134, for each Severed and Amended Complaint filed pursuant to

this Order;

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(4) a filing fee in the amount of $250.00 shall be

remitted to the Clerk of Court for each Severed and Amended

Complaint, except for the first named plaintiff who files a Severed

and Amended Complaint; and

(5) failure to remit the filing fee with a Severed and

Amended Complaint will result in the dismissal with prejudice of

any and all claims asserted by the plaintiff.

BY THE COURT:

______________________________

J.

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