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A Blatant Inequity: Contributions To The Common Benefit Fund In Multidistrict Litigation, Jack Downing

Missouri Law Review

This Note analyzes the nuances of this issue and offers resolutions to its fundamental problems. Part II includes an overview of the MDL litigation, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel selection process, and the function and nature of CBFs. This Part will also include the judicial justification for creating a CBF in federal MDLs. Part III examines current problems with CBFs. In particular, this Part will focus on plaintiffs’ attorneys’ ability to use work product obtained for the federal MDL in their concurrent state court cases without having to contribute any portion of their recovery in state court to the federal CBF. …