A Miami federal judge stayed a class-action lawsuit centered on exploding vehicle air bags until a single jurisdiction is chosen next month to handle pretrial issues in nearly 60 cases filed nationwide.

The ruling from the bench Monday by Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King illustrated the jockeying for legal position in the multidistrict litigation. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation Panel will meet Jan. 29 in Miami to decide which judge will be assigned the cases.