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Usually, we comment on stuff that affects us.
That’s way too limiting.
Today, we’re going to comment on something that doesn’t affect us at all.
Here’s the spat, which we both observed last week at the annual meeting of the American Law Institute: Historically, the decision whether to settle a lawsuit has been reserved exclusively

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Ordinarily, a federal trial court cannot order that some other lawsuit in state court be stopped.

When federal courts preliminarily approve class action settlements, however, they often enjoin prosecution of competing cases that could interfere with the settlement. Federal courts issue those injunctions under the “in aid of jurisdiction” exception to the Anti-Injunction Act. See

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We’ve been thinking again about the American Law Institute’s “Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation,” in part because we’ll be asked to vote on whether to accept the draft at the ALI’s annual meeting in May.

The draft is long and says many things.

One thing that it says, however, is this:

To facilitate

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The American Enterprise Institute hosted a panel discussion on Monday about the Vioxx settlement.
C-SPAN (and C-SPAN 2) broadcast the event yesterday, but without much advance notice.

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At noon on this Monday, January 7, 2008, one of your humble scribes — Herrmann — will participate in a panel at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., to discuss the Vioxx settlement.
With one small exception, the AEI has lined up an all-star cast. In the words of the program description:
“Speakers include

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On Monday, we used our little blog to link to an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal.
We’re sure the Journal noticed the huge spike in traffic.
Today, we’re doing the same favor for the New York Times. Today’s Times reports that plaintiffs’ lawyers have filed a motion to amend the

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Here’s more proof (as if more were needed) that Herrmann’s a step slow. (And it’s again only Herrmann. This post relates to the Vioxx settlement, and Bexis is playing no role in drafting this.)
We posted last week about the Vioxx settlement. The aspect of the settlement that interested us most was finality: After AmChem

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Herrmann posted last weekend about the Vioxx settlement. Everybody and his brother seems to be looking for “experts” to comment on the settlement; by posting on the subject, we knowingly entered the fray. And that’s fine. Herrmann is happy to discuss the settlement, but please remember three things:
1. Bexis has had nothing to do

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We know, we know: The parties announced the Vioxx settlement on Friday, and it’s already Sunday, and we haven’t yet chimed in.
We have two excuses. First, Bexis’s tongue is tied. His firm is involved in the Vioxx litigation, so he can’t comment on the settlement. He, of course, played no role in drafting this

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Here is Merck’s verbatim press release:
News Release
Media Contacts: Christopher Garland Investor
Contact: Graeme Bell
(908) 423-3461
(908) 423-5185
Kent Jarrell
(202) 230-1833
Merck Agreement to Resolve U.S. VIOXX(r) Product Liability Lawsuits Agreement Provides for $4.85 Billion Payment
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., Nov. 9, 2007 – Merck & Co., Inc. today announced that it has