Comparing State-Federal Timelines -- And Guessing At Which Of The Propecia® Mass Litigations Reaches A "Bellwether" Trial Date First

First off, though -- thanks to my anonymous commenter, who pointed me to the new order, in the New Jersey State MCL (in Middlesex County Superior Court): a quite sincere hat-tip! All of what follows is to that commenter's eternal good karma and credit.

Next, here is the current federal MDL scheduling order. That is in Brooklyn, New York. From these two orders, I've designed the graphic comparison of timelines, at right. Click it to enlarge.

While there are, and will be, manifold factors that may cause these two time lines to wiggle around a bit, I do expect that the federal cases -- with an initial trial slot already reserved on the judge's calendar for September 2017, will likely go first. Although limited briefing (on choice of law issues) will be complete in the state MCL by April 2017, it will take quite a bit more time to do all the expert witness deps (another phase of discovery), and hammer out pre-trial memos, as to the initial case selected in state court (in fact, the federal court order contemplates about a year for that process). I think it fair to say that a state court trial would then happen around April of 2018, all things being equal.

But we know things never really are.

So while it all could still change, my guess is September 2017, in Brooklyn.

Note that the state courts have reserved no trial date on the calendar, at least to this point. That is likely because it is very hard to know how long the "battle of medical experts" (in deps and pre-trial evidence stipulations, as to what those various experts will be allowed to testify to, and opine on) will take to resolve itself.

And with that, I wish you all a fantastic weekend! I'm out -- headed north!