{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-20-20-81","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 20, § 20-81","heading":"Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation","body":"A. At the discretion of the Supreme Court, the Court may create\n\na Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. The panel may consist\n\nof five (5) active judges selected by the Chief Justice of the\n\nSupreme Court. The judges may be either judges of the district\n\ncourt or appellate judges. The members of the panel shall serve at\n\nthe pleasure of the Chief Justice.\n\nB. If there exist a sufficient number of cases to justify\n\nconsolidation and if the cases are at a comparable stage in the\n\nlitigation, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation may\n\ntransfer civil actions involving one or more common questions of\n\nfact pending in the same or different district courts to any\n\ndistrict court for consolidated or coordinated proceedings, giving\n\ndue weight, consideration and preference to the district court\n\nwherein the first civil action was filed.\n\nC. If the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation finds that\n\nthe civil actions are not at comparable stages in the litigation,\n\nthe Panel may stay one or more of the actions pending resolution of\n\nthe common questions of fact in one of the other actions, giving due\n\nweight, consideration and preference to the first civil action filed\n\nand the action which has reached the furthest stage of litigation.\n\nD. Nothing in this section shall expand the existing law as to\n\nthe binding effect of a court’s rulings in one of the actions to the\n\nother actions prior to the date of consolidation or as to any case\n\nthat is stayed by the Panel.\n\nE. A transfer or stay may be made by the Judicial Panel on\n\nMultidistrict Litigation if the panel determines that the transfer\n\nor stay shall:\n\n1. Be for the convenience of the parties and witnesses; and\n\n2. Promote the just and efficient conduct of actions giving due\n\nweight and consideration to binding or nonbinding effects of prior\n\nand future court rulings on the parties to the cases to be\n\nconsolidated or stayed.\n\nF. A transfer or stay may be for the remainder of an action or\n\nfor any particular stage of an action.\n\nG. A judge who is qualified and authorized by law to preside in\n\nthe court to which an action is transferred pursuant to this section\n\nmay preside over the transferred action as if the transferred action\n\nwere originally filed in that court.\n\nH. The Supreme Court shall promulgate rules for the\n\nimplementation of this section.","path":["OK Code","Title 20"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os20.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"32afad22b0516adb39024aee00f54ace081d2f1a367ac6ee3925aa6a09ee7741","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-20-20-80","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-20-20-9"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}