IN RE: Alodex Corporation Securities Litigation

] Case MDL No. 165 Document 2 Filed 04/30/15 Page 1 of 4
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BEFORE THE JUDICIAL PANEL = LUT iaT
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MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION JUL 1g 197h
IN RE ALODEX CORPORATION ) bARI (ARTI
SECURITIES LITIGATION ) DOCKET Ni 05h = pling	SPAkg,
. OPINION. AND, ORDER
BEFORE ALFRED P. MURRAH.*, CHAIRMAN, AND JOHN MINOR WISDOM,
EDWARD WEINFELD, EDWIN A. ROBSON, WILLIAM H. BECKER *,
JOSEPH S. LORD, III:*, AND STANLEY A. WEIGEL, JUDGES OF THE PANEL
PER CURIAM
This litigation consists of two actions in the Southern
District of Iowa and ohe action in the District of Minnesota
involving a real estate development project in Des Moines, Iowa.
Plaintiffs exchanged their interests in certain Iowa property
for stock in the Alodex Corporation. These actions arise out of
that transaction and plaintiffs allege that defendants, Alodex,
its accountants and two individuals, committed common law fraud
and violations of the federal securities laws by misrepresenting
and failing to disclose material facts concerning Alodex's ailing
financial condition prior to the exchange.
Alodex and the two individual defendants move the Panel
for an order transferring all actions to the Western District
of Tennessee for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1407. Plaintiffs oppose transfer and,
in the alternative, favor the Southern District of Iowa as the
appropriate transferee forum. We find that these actions raise
* . Although Judges Murrah, Becker and Lord were not present
at the hearing, they have, with the consent of all parties,
participated in this decision.

Case MDL No. 165 Document 2 Filed 04/30/15 Page 2 of 4
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common questions of fact and that transfer of the Minnesota action
to the Southern District of Iowa for coordinated or consolidated
pretrial proceedings with the actions already pending in that
district will best serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses
and promote the just and efficient conduct of the litigation.
Plaintiffs maintain that coordinated or consolidated
pretrial proceedings are unnecessary because the factual issues
in these actions are relatively simple. We disagree. These
actions involve many common questions of fact concerning Alodex's
financial condition and, as is usually the case in multidistrict
securities litigation, these common factual issues are sufficiently
complex to warrant transfer of all actions to a single district
under Section 1407. Such a transfer insures that the possibility
of duplicative discovery	.or inconsistent pretrial rulings will
be avoided. And by entrusting the supervision of the pretrial
proceedings in all actions to a single judge, substantial savings
of judicial time and resources and the expeditious termination
of the pretrial phase of the litigation will result.
Inasmuch as two of the three actions in this litigation
are already pending in the Southern District of Iowa and proceed-
ing with discovery, that district is the most appropriate trans-
feree forum. Although movants urge the Western District of Tennessee
as the transferee forum, none of the actions in this litigation
is pending in that district and it is clear from the papers sub-
mitted and oral argument before the Panel that movants are primarily
concerned with having the three actions transferred to a single

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district for Section 1407 treatment. Indeed, they concede that
they would not be prejudiced bytransfer of the actions to the
Southern District of Iowa and they do not strenuously object to
that district as the transferee forum.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the action listed on the
attached Schedule A pending in the District of Minnesota be, and
the same hereby is, transferred pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1407 to
the Southern District of Iowa and, with the consent of that court,
assigned to the Honorable William C. Hanson for coordinated or
consolidated pretrial proceedings with the actions listed on
Schedule A which are already pending in that district.

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SCHEDULE A " DOCKET NQ. 165
- SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TOWA
Marlin Cole v. Alodex Corp., et al. Civil Action
No. 73-2452
Constance N. Belin, et al. v. Civil Action
Alodex Corp., et al. No. 74-14-2
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
Northwest Growth Fund, Inc. Vv. © Civil Action
Alodex Corp., et al. No. 4-73-Civ-605