Insights

Rule 16.1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, titled “Multidistrict Litigation,” takes effect today, December 1, 2025. The adoption of this rule provides a long-awaited framework specific to district courts’ management of MDL proceedings. However, many critics of the new rule are concerned that it does not impose mandatory obligations on MDL courts, and thus lacks the teeth required to establish meaningful change.

On April 2, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court extended the reach of Section 1964(c) of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by holding that a plaintiff may seek treble damages for a business or property loss resulting from a personal injury.[1] The 5-4 decision has resolved a 3-2 circuit split over whether the RICO statute precludes relief for losses stemming from a personal injury.

When a company learns that it may wind up as a defendant in a multidistrict litigation (or MDL), it may initially feel like a disaster. Between expensive, drawn out, and complicated legal proceedings and the possibility of outsized damages and company-threatening liability, it is difficult to imagine the upside. However, MDLs may not be as unfavorable a forum for defendants as they initially seem.