A recent jury verdict finding Chiquita Brands International ("Chiquita") responsible for deaths by a Colombia paramilitary group marked the first "bellwether trial" in a massive multidistrict litigation and is reported to be...more
The American Arbitration Association (AAA) has announced updates to its Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules and its fee schedules for consumer and employment mass arbitrations....more
We previously wrote about a Ninth Circuit appeal taken by Verizon Wireless, Inc. after a California district court judge held that its arbitration agreement, which required mass arbitration disputes to be resolved by multiple...more
As total adjudication is a lofty finish line for many mass and class disputes, settlement is a crucial factor. As class actions continue to rise in prominence in the UK, the United States offers many lessons to emulate and...more
In its recently filed reply brief, DuPont de Nemours Inc. argues the recent Sixth Circuit decision results in a “heads-I-win-one-trial-tails-I-Lose-the-entire-MDL rule” and further states: “No rational player rolls the dice...more
We previously wrote about a Ninth Circuit appeal dealing with the use of bellwether procedures to resolve mass arbitration claims brought by thousands of customers against Verizon Wireless. That appeal remains pending and is...more
The Ninth Circuit recently addressed an issue that tends to arise frequently in class certification motion practice: how trial courts should apply the predominance requirement where appellate decisions have said that the need...more
A federal jury in Florida awarded $77.5 million in damages, including $72.5 million in punitive damages, to a former soldier who filed a claim alleging that his hearing loss resulted from defective 3M Co. earplugs. The case...more
The Asbestos Case Tracker has been following developing issues regarding hundreds of asbestos exposure cases involving plaintiffs who worked for W.R. Grace at the Libby, Montana mine and facilities. Recently, a Great Falls,...more
The 3M earplug lawsuits keep moving forward. On November 15, 2021, the seventh bellwether trial in the ongoing 3M earplug injury litigation ended in a $13 million award in favor of the plaintiff. This jury award has other...more
Conceptually, the goal of bellwether mediations is the same as that of its counterpart (a trial): to develop an objective way to value a disparate set of cases to facilitate settlement. As with bellwether trials, the issues...more
Jury Awards Veteran With Hearing Loss $1.7 Million in Third Bellwether Trial - A Florida jury’s $1.7 million judgment in favor of the plaintiff on June 18, 2021, handed The 3M Company its second defeat in bellwether trials...more
Almost three years after 3M’s resolution of a whistleblower lawsuit with the United States government, the judge overseeing lawsuits filed by individual servicemembers for hearing loss and tinnitus injuries has concluded the...more
This week, we take a close look at an appeal from the first jury trial in a flood of litigation alleging that a popular pesticide causes cancer. EDWIN HARDEMAN V. MONSANTO COMPANY - The Court affirms a jury verdict...more
Litigation arising out of Hurricane Harvey (Harvey) has been ongoing since the first lawsuit was filed within days of Harvey making landfall on August 25, 2017, inundating Houston with an unprecedented amount of rainfall and...more
In our previous blog post about multidistrict litigation (MDL), we discussed the problem of identifying meritless claims and how social media evidence can help counsel identify those claims. But what happens next? After the...more
To narrow issues and promote settlement in “oversized patent cases,” on July 31, 2017, Chief Judge Leonard Stark of the District of Delaware issued an order that indicates a preference for bellwether trials on all issues for...more
Removal under the “mass action” provision of the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) is appropriate when 100 or more plaintiffs take the affirmative step of proposing to try their claims jointly and the claims involve common...more
Upon creation of multidistrict litigation involving a drug or medical device, companies may contemplate the dreaded “S-Word” —“settlement.” While an early settlement program can sometimes serve as in-house counsel’s best...more
Plaintiffs in two separate federal bellwether cases against General Motors (GM) have won their claims against the automobile manufacturer and its faulty ignition switches. The settlements involve two women who were seriously...more
As product liability multidistrict litigation becomes more prevalent, it is important for manufacturers to understand how the bellwether trial process works and how to use it to their advantage. The ongoing bellwether trials...more
By advancing their argument, plaintiffs exposed what parties have long known — that the ‘bellwether’ process has lost its meaning…. This process results either in resolutions dictated by aberrant cases or, more likely, a...more
In a post last month, we reported on a district court’s rulings on motions in limine in the first bellwether hip implant trial against Wright Medical Technology Incorporated. The case subsequently went to trial, and last week...more
Multidistrict litigation (MDL) is a consolidation of civil cases transferred from different jurisdictions around the country to a single U.S. District Court to achieve certain pre-trial efficiencies. All transferred cases...more