This is the home page of the Plaintiffs' National Leadership Counsel for Multidistrict Litigation Number 1535, In re: Welding Fume Products Liability Litigation, United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, case number 1:03-cv-17000 (“MDL 1535"), the Honorable Kathleen M. O'Malley, presiding.

This multidistrict litigation presently consists of over 6,000 individual claims pending before the Court. Several cases that have not been transferred into MDL 1535 are pending in state courts. The cases within MDL 1525 involve allegations concerning adverse medical effects and personal injuries allegedly resulting from exposure to fumes given off during welding processes.

The Plaintiffs allege that fumes produced during welding contain manganese.  Manganese causes Manganese Poisoning,  Parkinsonism and Parkinson's Disease.  Plaintiffs allege that commercial manufacturers and sellers of welding rods were aware of these health dangers for many years and failed to provide adequate warnings.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) determined that the Welding Rods cases filed involve common questions of fact, and that centralization of the Welding Rods cases was appropriate. Based on a number of factors, the JPML determined that the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio was an appropriate forum for centralization. All Welding Rods cases were then ordered to be transferred to the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, and assigned to the Honorable Kathleen McDonald O’Malley to coordinate discovery and other pretrial matters. Subsequent Welding Rod cases filed in federal court ordinarily will be transferred to the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, and become part of MDL 1535 as “tag along” cases. Once discovery and other pretrial matters have been concluded, the cases that constitute MDL 1535 shall be transferred back to the district in which the case was originally filed, for trial or other proceedings.