So the 16th and final bellwether trial concluded this afternoon with this massive $77.5 million verdict for the plaintiff, Army veteran James Beal. June 28, 2022: On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal released a story entitled 3M Faces Billions in Liabilities Over $7.63 Earplugs. Judge Rodgers also issued a new Case Management Order identifying a third wave of 500 additional cases to be prepared for the next phase of trials. Casali is 3Ms go-to expert, a foremost authority in audiology, acoustics, and hearing protection. But it is not. You would not think these mediators one who was also a mediator in the 3M MDL would contradict a federal judge unless they had hoped a settlement was on the horizon. In that case, like this case, J&J was using Chapter 11 to end run facing judgment from juries. 3M Co. said U.S. Department of Defense records for more than 175,000 plaintiffs show that most claimants in Combat Arms earplug litigation have normal hearing under medically accepted . 3Ms big defense, that they seemed confident would succeed, to end these cases before they began was asserting that all claims are preempted by the Feres doctrine. The administrative docket helps lawyers on both sides. December 4, 2022 Update: Ever since 3M had its subsidiary, Aearo Technologies, file bankruptcy, the proceedings in the 3M earplugs class action MDL have been frozen by an automatic stay. Consistently, it is making the same obvious point now to the bankruptcy court: this was not the congressional purpose of the Bankruptcy Code. Lead counsel for the plaintiffs filed a major motion seeking to exclude or limit 3Ms expert testimony and opinions going into Wave 3 of the earplug cases, which could involve thousands of plaintiffs going to trial in large blocks starting next year. After hearing closing arguments from both sides, the jury went back to deliberate the case after lunchtime on Friday, November 12. The Vilsmeyer verdict is yet another incredible victory that should push settlement amounts higher as 3M has to be in a full-scale panic at this point. Dont you have to look in the mirror at some point? But you have to understand there are over 200,000 lawsuits as of December 2022 and there are few if any developments in individual cases. October 25, 2022 Update: 3M asked Judge Rodgers permission to file another motion on the successor liability motion for summary judgment plaintiffs lawyers filed in the Wave 1 cases. What does this mean? But settlement talks will continue in the next two weeks, and Judge Rodgers is encouraged by the progress made during the settlement negotiations. The response broke no new ground. She explained that the move was necessary because 3M has flatly refused to consider a global settlement of the earplug claims within the MDL. Palanki spent nearly two days testifying, during which the defense focused on his medical history. Initially, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham was going to hear arguments on the motion this week. This is because 3M did not give precise specifications or even have a real contract with the military to provide these earplugs. July 25, 2022: The week after the mandatory settlement mediation ordered by MDL Judge Casey Rodgers, the parties filed motions to gear up for the next massive wave of trials. But if you do not like the settlement amount you are offered, you can opt-out of the settlement and take your case to a jury. This case lays out a three-part test that provides a claim is pre-empted if: 3Ms preemption arguments failed. The strategy has been to kick the can down the road. Sloan is another Army vet who is alleging that the Combat Arms earplugs failed to protect him resulting in both hearing loss and tinnitus. It is dragging the process out a little bit. 3M argued that the earplugs MDL is overrun with bogus claims by plaintiffs who are not being vetted and dismissed from the case. Our thinking, and it is just our lawyers speculation, is that 3M executives want to keep delaying taking that hit in the stock price and the pain that will come with that. Our lawyers looked at the applicable law and believed the plaintiffs would defeat this argument. 3M is convinced that not all of these plaintiffs have valid claims. Too many lawyers have filed 3M earplug lawsuits without making sure their clients have a viable claim. Most 3M earplug lawsuits rely on the legal concept of product liability, in which a plaintiff seeks to hold a manufacturer responsible for health problems caused by an unreasonably dangerous or otherwise defective product. Dr. Casali is a professor at Virginia Tech University and a prominent expert in the field of hearing protection and acoustics. July 16, 2022 Update: Should you be optimistic or pessimistic going into the settlement talks heading into Day 2 today? The Bankruptcy Court has scheduled a Status Conference to address the Motion to Dismiss recently filed by the 3M earplug MDL plaintiffs. That is $20 billion. The Order concludes by imposing full liability for the earplug claims on 3M and barring it from attempting to shift liability to Aearo. That is the question many veterans have asked our lawyers in the last week. K&E has been the primary defense firm in the earplug MDL. Ron helped me find a clear path that ended with my foot healing and a settlement that was much more than I hope for. We were following the Wilkerson trial more closely and the jury is out in that case and will likely issue its verdict on Monday. This is the second time the earplug plaintiffs have asked the MDL Judge for a ruling that would preempt 3Ms bankruptcy strategy. Decisions on both requests are pending. Rodgers used 3Ms public statements in support of the bankruptcy plan as justification for the settlement mediation redo. This is a tough argument to make. 3M claims the earplugs were safe. Our lawyers are handling 3M earplug lawsuits in all 50 states. (And if you know a fellow soldier who suffered a hearing-related injury that does not know of the litigation, call that soldier and tell him or her to call a lawyer. The only thing of note to us is that it was less vitriolic against the judges who dared to rule against 3M than we have seen in previous motions. December 1, 2022 Update: Ever since 3M had its subsidiary, Aearo Technologies, file bankruptcy, the proceedings in the 3M earplugs class action MDL have been frozen by an automatic stay. by Roy D. Oppenheim. Preparing this many cases is a logistical nightmare. February 7, 2022 3M Earplug Bellwether Trial Update:The first 3M earplug lawsuit trial of 2022 ended two weeks ago for two soldier plaintiffs (Wayman and Sloan). We think this was the wrong call. Both Fallon and Crawford also spent over 20 years in the Army. She also said she would allow an immediate appeal of her successor liability ruling, a strong signal she may rule for the plaintiffs. If the plaintiffs can consistently get juries to hit 3M with punitive damages in future bellwether trials it could be a major game-changer. The Order appoints Randi S. Ellis as the special master to oversee the negotiations and required that the mediation last a minimum of three days and be scheduled by July 15, 2022. October 14, 2022 Update: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has agreed to an expedited review of 3Ms appeal of the bankruptcy court decision that effectively blocked 3M from pulling the 230,000 earplug lawsuits into bankruptcy. So failing to list the 3M lawsuit as an asset made zero difference. Just a week earlier, a jury in Tallahassee awarded $22.5 million in the 8th bellwether trial, the largest verdict to date. A federal judge has declared 3M earplug lawsuit settlement efforts to be at an impasse after the manufacturer pulled out of negotiations to resolve hundreds of thousands of hearing loss claims. That might be a problem for 3M. But the judge could not try the case this month for reasons external to the 3M litigation. Not just us. In one of the largest U.S. mass torts, 3M faces over 200,000 lawsuits in U.S. District Court in northern Florida. Dr. Casali is the director of the Auditory Systems Laboratory at Virginia Tech and an expert in hearing loss and protection. At that point, why not keep trying these cases when the average successful jury payout is around $20 million? Of the $29.4 million in total damages, 63% have been punitive damages (also referred to as exemplary damages) aimed at punishing 3M for fraud or gross negligence. The 3M earplug lawsuits will be very hard to settle even with parties motivated to settle and a federal judge breaking down the lawyers backs. Is that point already apparent to everyone? Plaintiffs attorneys also filed an 84-page motion seeking to exclude or limit testimony from all of 3Ms expert witnesses going into Wave 3 of the trial cases. This marked the largest and most impactful verdict in the 3M earplugs litigation because it included over $12 million in punitive damages. These defective earplugs have led to hearing damage, tinnitus, and other conditions, according to thousands of service members. September 19, 2022 Update: There was no settlement from the settlement talks last week. The first defense witness was 3M scientist Dr. Eric Fallon, former chief Audiologist at Walter Reed Medical Center. But it cant muster the energy even to pretend. But this is the depressing part of the judges order: Hopefully as the MDL, the bankruptcy, and the various appeals proceed, all of which undoubtedly will take years to run their course, the intransigence on both sides will give way to a genuine commitment to negotiate reasonably and meaningful compromises on both sides so that a just and mutually acceptable resolution of these matters may be achieved.. After presenting short bits of video testimony from a handful of witnesses, 3M rested. Jan. 28, 2022. In the first bellwether trial, the jury hit 3M with $7.3 million in punitive damages, but that was split between 3 plaintiffs. The average settlement payout for a 3M earplug lawsuit can change, but according to the Times' 2022 report, nine of the 14 plaintiffs were . Really? Can I Fire My Lawyer and Hire You? If 3M was truly ready to get this litigation settled, there would be no need to involve the bankruptcy judge in that process. "acceptedAnswer": { February 22, 2023 Update: Judge Rodgers will hold a data day tomorrow in the 3M earplugs MDL at which the third-party claims administrator for the MDL (Brown Greer) will make a presentation summarizing the data collected about the hear-loss claims made by plaintiffs in the MDL. Is The 3M Earplug Lawsuit Worth It? The fear is how long it will take for it to pay that price. Last week, the MDL judge granted a motion filed by Beal which effectively blocks 3Ms defense team from presenting their contributory negligence and other affirmative defenses at trial. There are no guarantees of success. This time, however, the summary judgment motion has a much better chance of being granted, and Judge Rodgers may be inclined toward it. The gist of the argument is that any difference between the two companies is pure form over substance. My favorite line from the order: Furthermore, it is nonsensical to argueas 3M hasthat a stay of the Courts injunction promotes the public interest.. The earplug bellwether trials so far have been two weeks each and they only involved one plaintiff in all but two trials. Plaintiffs attorneys pilloried Aearos analysis, calling it a sleight of hand.. You can call any 3M earplug lawyer. In nine bellwether trials, the plaintiffs have won 5 times and 3M has won 4 times. But if I was and I heard this presentation predicated on this delusional nonsense, I would short 3M stock like crazy. But she will allow an immediate appeal of her ruling. Dr. Packer has been an effective witness in prior trials. "name": "I Never Hear from My Lawyer. 3M also complains that everyone is getting it wrong multiple judges, juries, and financial analysts. I dont think 3M wants to try another case and would like to find a way to settle these claims. "mainEntity": [ Under the metric endorsed by 3M, nearly 85% of the plaintiffs have no evidence of hearing loss and should be excluded from any settlement. Oppenheim Law 954-384-6114 We have learned that juries do not like what 3M did with these earplugs and they will award a great deal of money if they believed that negligence caused the victim tinnitus or hearing loss. 3Ms subsidiary, Aearo Technologies (which made the earplugs at the center of the litigation) filed a voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy today and will seek to create a trust fund for settlement of the thousands of pending earplug claims. If 3M foolishly continues to try these cases, the compensation payouts in this litigation will likely soar. Last week, the MDL judge granted a summary judgment motion by Beal, which effectively blocks 3M from presenting nearly all of their affirmative defenses, including contributory negligence. February 14, 2023 Update: Yesterday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham postponed the hearing on the recent motion by the 3M plaintiffs seeking full and immediate dismissal of the Aearo bankruptcy. I also understand that Miller & Zois works with multiple law firms on these claims and that I may be contacted by an affiliated law firm working with Miller & Zois on these lawsuits. The $12 million in punitive damages awarded to Camarillorazo is a damaging indictment that demonstrates the jury was angered by 3Ms conduct concerning the defective earplugs. These 3M trials will have to be consolidated into groups of 50 soldiers to try at one time. K&E has been the primary defense firm in the earplug MDL, which prompted lawyers for the MDL plaintiffs to argue that K&E could not simultaneously represent Aero in its bankruptcy because it presented a conflict of interest. I suspect the vast majority of these hearing loss and tinnitus lawsuits are strong claims. Jury verdicts and reported settlement amounts in other tinnitus or hearing loss cases suggest an average individual settlement compensation from $50,000 to $300,000 in compensation. The vast majority of those are consolidated before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rogers in the Northern District of Florida, in the largest multidistrict litigation in history. Vaughn was a case with a lot of weaknesses. The trial was held at the federal courthouse in Pensacola, but it was presided over by a visiting judge from the Northern District of Alabama. The median compensatory damage award is $583,448. Plaintiffs lawyers contend in this brief and throughout this litigation that 3M is not a government contractor entitled to protection under the Feres Doctrine.
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