Case Information
*1 JS-6
Present: The Honorable MICHAEL W. FITZGERALD, U.S. District Judge Deputy Clerk: Court Reporter: Rita Sanchez Not Reported Attorneys Present for Plaintiff: Attorneys Present for Defendant: None Present None Present Proceedings (In Chambers): ORDER RE: MOTION TO REMAND CASE TO LOS
ANGELES COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT [12]
Before the Court is Plaintiff Sagen Flowers’s Motion to Remand Case to Los Angeles County Superior Court (the “Remand Motion”), filed on November 24, 2020. (Docket No. 12). Defendants Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., Teva Women’s Health, LLC, Teva Women’s Health, Inc., and Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R&D, Inc. filed an opposition on December 21, 2020. (Docket No. 16). Plaintiff filed a reply on December 28, 2020. (Docket No. 17).
The Court has read and considered the papers filed in connection with the Motion and held a telephonic hearing on January 11, 2021, pursuant to General Order 20-09 arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the reasons discussed below, the Court determines that it lacks jurisdiction to rule on the Remand Motion.
On December 16, 2020, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) granted a motion to transfer certain personal injury actions relating to ParaGard IUDs to the Northern District of Georgia in a new MDL, In re: ParaGard IUD Products Liability Litigation , Case No. 1:20-md-02974 (the “ParaGard MDL”). (Notice of Entry of Order Transferring Case to the Northern District of Georgia (the “Notice of Transfer”) at 1 (Docket No. 19)).
On December 23, 2020, the JPML issued Conditional Transfer Order 3 (“CTO- 3”) conditionally transferring this action to the ParaGard MDL. ( Id. ). On January 4,
*2 2021, the JPML finalized the Order. ( Id. at 1-2).
CTO-3 orders: “Pursuant to Rule 7.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, the action(s) on the attached schedule are transferred under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 to the Northern District of Georgia for the reasons stated in the order of December 16, 2020, and, with the consent of that court, assigned to the Honorable Leigh Martin May.” ( Id. at 2).
The statute governing transfers in MDL cases, 28 U.S.C. § 1407, provides: Orders of transfer . . . shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the district court of the transferee district and shall be effective when thus filed . The clerk of the transferee district court shall forthwith transmit a certified copy of the panel’s order to transfer to the clerk of the district court from which the action is being transferred.
Pursuant to § 1407, the date that the order of transfer was filed in the transferee district, the Northern District of Georgia, is also the date the order of transfer is effective. See id. ; Seltmann v. A.W. Chesterton Co. , No. C 08-5015 SBA, 2009 WL 361947, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 12, 2009). As explained by the Ninth Circuit:
A 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 transfer become effective, “the jurisdiction of the transferor court ceases and the transferee court has exclusive jurisdiction.” MANUAL FOR COMPLEX LITIGATION § 20.131 at 220; see also MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION MANUAL, § 9.1 (explaining that upon transfer of the litigation, “the divestment of [the transferor’s court’s] jurisdiction is complete”).
In re Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) Products Liability Litigation , 460 F.3d 1217, 1230 (9th Cir. 2006).
CTO-3 was filed on January 4, 2021, and transfer to the Northern District
*3 of Georgia became effective on that date. (Notice of Transfer at 2); 28 U.S.C. § 1407. Accordingly, this Court was divested of its jurisdiction to rule on the pending Remand Motion on January 4, 2021. 28 U.S.C. § 1407. The District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has exclusive jurisdiction over this action, including all pending motions. See in re PPA , 460 F.3d at 1230 (“the transferee court has exclusive jurisdiction”).
IT IS SO ORDERED.