Online courtroom for US Vs China battle

NEW YORK: An online Case-Room will facilitate document exchange and storage for all cases related to Chinese Drywall Imports in some US district Courtrooms.

LexisNexis, a provider of content-enabled workflow solutions, announced in a press release that attorneys involved in the Chinese-manufactured drywall multidistrict litigation (MDL) pending in the United States District Courtooms for the Eastern District of Louisiana will use LexisNexis File & Serve as the online case-room to facilitate document exchange, and case-file access and storage for all cases.

The litigation stems from Chinese manufacturers fabricating and exporting to the United States hundreds of millions of tons of drywall containing high doses of sulfur in their attempt to meet demand during the housing boom of the past decade. The sulfur content is alleged to have lead to health and property damage nationally, and lawsuits have already been filed in many states, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The litigation is expected to be particularly complicated because it will potentially involve thousands of plaintiffs and defendants from all over the United States, the drywall manufacturers in China, and legal counsel for all parties.

All federal cases on this issue have been consolidated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and will be presided by Judge Eldon Fallon. At the request of liaison counsel to the Court, LexisNexis File & Serve has been implemented as the online case-room for these cases and will facilitate online document exchange and case-file access and storage for all lawyers and interested parties to the drywall litigation.

“LexisNexis File & Serve has been helpful in getting electronic service of pleadings out to a large number of persons in very complex cases that involve multiple parties and hundreds of lawyers,” said one liaison counsel to the Court, attorney Leonard A. Davis of New Orleans-based Herman, Herman, Katz & Cotlar LLP.

Using the File & Serve service for drywall litigation will mean that after electronically filing documents to the court via the court’s own CM/ECF e-filing system, counsel will also be required to upload those same documents and discovery files to File & Serve so they are electronically tracked, stored and available for access and use by relevant parties in their case.

“We understand the important nature of the drywall litigation given the property and health issues at hand, and we’re glad to be of service to litigators in helping them quickly and efficiently manage the complexities and the expected large volume of documentation for these cases with our File & Serve capabilities,” said Tobias Hartmann, vice president and managing director of LexisNexis File & Serve.

In addition to Courts, litigants benefit from using File & Serve with more control over case file management, quicker and more cost efficient filing and service, improved access to information and enhanced case monitoring. The public also benefits by a Court’s ability to more efficiently manage documents and reduced costs for document storage and administration.