We’ve seen many judicial assistance applications filed all over the country by both sides in the Lago Agrio case. Why are these not consolidated into a single proceeding? One answer may be that the parties are engaged in a war of attrition and are not interested in consolidation. Another answer may be that there is some question about the availability of consolidation in this context. But there is precedent for consolidation, and as I’ll suggest below, consolidation would make a lot of sense. The statute on multidistrict consolidation, 28 U.S.C. § 1407, provides: (a) When civil actions involving one or more common questions of fact are pending in different districts, such actions may be transferred to any district for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings.…
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