But the panel, in an unusually lengthy order, contrasted the Erie litigation to its prior decisions addressing lawsuits alleging insurers illegally denied business interruption claims tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, the MDL panel denied a request to coordinate more than 260 business interruption cases together in an industry-wide docket, concluding the lawsuits asserted various state laws and ensnared too many companies with different policies. In an unusual move, the panel gave lawyers in some of the cases a chance to argue whether MDLs could exist against individual insurers, but, on Oct. 2, the panel refused coordination of separate dockets against Travelers, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London, Cincinnati Insurance and The Hartford.

However, the panel granted an MDL for a fifth, Society Insurance, because it operated in only six states—a "critical factor, as it meant the transferee judge would be tasked with a more manageable litigation than an MDL with a potentially nationwide scope," the panel wrote in Tuesday's order.

"At most, this litigation will expand to encompass six additional states," the order says. Erie also has a "small number of substantially similar policies," the only difference being that some have a virus exclusion, while others do not.

The order acknowledged that plaintiffs could have different theories and facts setting their cases apart from one another—a key argument against coordinating them before the same judge.

"Were this litigation larger in geographic scope and if it involved more state laws, this might be a more persuasive argument because the transferee judge would be tasked with managing a much more complicated litigation," Caldwell wrote. "As with the Society litigation, what sets this litigation apart from others in which we have denied centralization is the defined geographical scope of these actions, which implicates only thirteen jurisdictions."

Mark Lanier, of The Lanier Law Firm, and Adam Levitt, of DiCello Levitt, two of the five plaintiffs counsel leading the Society Insurance cases, spearheaded efforts to coordinate cases against Erie in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As have other insurers facing business interruption claims, Erie had opposed an MDL but, in the event the panel disagreed, suggested the Western District of Pennsylvania.

The Western District of Pennsylvania is the "clear center of gravity for this litigation," the panel concluded, appointing U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Hornak to oversee the cases.

In the other order, the panel created a multidistrict litigation proceeding for a dozen cases against Generali, the U.S. branch of Italian conglomerate Assicurazioni Generali Group, which provided insurance for bookings on vacation rental site Vrbo. Those cases, according to the order, are more akin to the MDLs against Arch Insurance Co. and United Specialty Insurance Co. over canceled season ski passes.

Derek Potts, of Potts Law Firm in Houston, had moved to transfer the cases against Generali to the Eastern District of Texas before Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap. Generali, represented by Bronwyn Pollock, a Mayer Brown partner in Los Angeles, called the MDL petition "gamesmanship," accusing plaintiffs firms of coordinating with one another to inflate the case count.

The panel chose U.S. District Judge John Koeltl, of the Southern District of New York, where Generali has U.S. headquarters.