By Marc Tracy

Law360, New York (July 03, 2007, 12:00 AM ET) -- AstraZeneca asked a judge on Monday to reject a request by plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation over blockbuster drug Seroquel for a certain settlement negotiator, saying the request represented “an inappropriate attempt to coerce AstraZeneca into an early global settlement."

AstraZeneca is mired in massive multidistrict product liability litigation over the company's anti-psychotic Seroquel.

AstraZeneca's objection centered on the fact that the proposed settlement master, Kenneth Feinberg, was the settlement master in the Zyprexa case, in which plaintiffs—who were represented by the same counsel as the Seroquel...