in Re Alcon Shareholder Litigation

MDL No. 10-0115 IN RE ALCON SHAREHOLDER LITIGATION ON REVIEW BY THE MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION PANEL JUSTICE BROWN delivered the opinion of the MDL Panel. Novartis AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, has moved the panel to transfer four lawsuits to a pretrial court. All four cases are shareholder actions challenging Novartis’s bid to wholly acquire Alcon, Inc., a Swiss eye-care company with operations in Fort Worth.1 Although Novartis is the only one of the actions’ fourteen defendants to move for transfer, at least six of the defendants agree that transfer is appropriate.2 Plaintiffs L.…