April 27, 2015 — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) will meet in one month to decide whether lawsuits against Lumber Liquidators will be centralized into a federal court in California.
According to the hearing notice (PDF) the JPML will meet on May 28 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
They will respond to a motion requesting the creation of a Multi-District Litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Three class actions are already pending in that court.
Lumber Liquidators is facing at least 10 class action lawsuits in federal courts in California, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
The MDL process is a good way to improve efficiency and streamline the discovery process, help prevent inconsistent rulings, and serve the convenience of parties, witnesses, and the judiciary.
All of the lawsuits accuse Lumber Liquidators of defrauding customers by selling Chinese-made laminate wood flooring with toxic levels of formaldehyde, and mislabeling products as compliant with California’s emissions limits for formaldehyde.
Lumber Liquidators is also facing class actions accusing them of providing faulty at-home air-testing kits. One consumers told CBS Los Angeles he developed health problems and is considering joining the class action:
“I’d been getting very, very bad headaches, even where I’m dizzy … then I’d be nauseous. In the morning when I’d wake up, I would go and throw up. I’ve been to the hospital once thinking I was having a heart attack. It was chest pains, erratic heartbeat.”
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC has been recognized as one of the nation’s leading plaintiffs' law firms and handles cases in all 50 states. We are very proud of our legal achievements, but equally self-respecting of our firm's reputation for providing personal attention to each and every client we represent.
