JPML Asked 2nd Time to Consolidate Hotel Sex Trafficking Lawsuits

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has been asked for a second time to create an MDL docket for 53 lawsuits filed against major hotel chains by sex trafficking victims pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.

In a Jan. 9 motion, plaintiffs argue that the lawsuits should be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio for consolidated pretrial proceedings because after the JPML denied the first request for centralization of the cases, there have been “significant changes in the litigation.”

“At the time of the ruling against centralization, the Panel …