February 9, 2022, 3M Earplug Bellwether Trial Update: The $110 million verdict in the Sloan/Wayman trial was the final case in bellwether trial group C. After a pause in February, trials will begin in group D starting on Monday, March 14, 2022, in Tallahassee. This is not a deadline you can miss. On Tuesday in the Sloan/Wayman bellwether, the day included some fact witnesses and a nearly full day of testimony from Dr. Mark Packer, a critical expert witness for the plaintiffs. That bankruptcy was admittedly different in some ways. The request was granted partly because plaintiffs in 3M earplug cases pending in Minnesota state court were attempting to use the ruling by Judge Rodgers as a shield in their cases. Shortly before the Wilkerson trial, 3M filed a motion arguing (among other things) that Wilkersons claims should be dismissed under the judicial estoppel rule because he failed to list his lawsuit against 3M as an asset in his recent bankruptcy. 3Ms Chief Legal Affairs Officer, Kevin Rhodes, claimed that the recent decision by the Bankruptcy Court rejecting 3Ms strategy was wrong and is being appealed directly to the Seventh Circuit. Because bankruptcy is a more equitable system for valuing claims for settlement than the civil justice system we have had for hundreds of years in this country? "text": " 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. " The 6th bellwether trial in the 3M earplugs MDL came in the case of Joseph Palanki v. 3M Co., et al. They quite literally worked as hard as if not harder than the doctors to save our lives. "@type": "Question", But it does not appear to be a good sign for those of us who were hoping that 3M might finally be ready to make a serious effort to settle the earplug lawsuits. In response, lawyers for the earplug plaintiffs have stated that while they are not necessarily opposed to the appointment of Judge Carr, they want to make sure that it will not have any impact on the jurisdiction of the MDL court. Why the fraud committed by 3M constitutes a serious crime? I am always saying these are big earplug trials. February 6, 2023 Update: The Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Indiana will hold a Status Conference next week on the recent Motion to Dismiss filed by the 3M earplug plaintiffs. Rodgers dismissed 3Ms claim that bogus plaintiffs are not being vetted, pointing out that 80,000 claimants have already been dismissed. The 3M earplug claim is a class-action lawsuit in which more than 300,000 of veterans are suing 3M for defective earplugs. Corporations taking responsibility is a profitable path. If you have a potential 3M earplug lawsuit and have yet to contact a lawyer, you are making a mistake if you think you want to bring a claim. Because 3M if it has any sense will want to settle these lawsuits before trials are remanded to be tried locally. 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. Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets Rhodes claimed that the proposed bankruptcy trust fund of $1 billion is a fair valuation for all earplugs claims. The 3M headquarters in Maplewood, Minnesota. 3M was hoping to get some wins to decrease settlement amounts. Dont you have to look in the mirror at some point? It is dragging the process out a little bit. December 15, 2021 Update: $22.5 million verdict in Finley last Friday. How Do You Qualify For A Earplug Lawsuit? The overriding takeaway from the presentation was that 3M and the plaintiff leadership have adopted vastly different interpretations of the injury data based on various metrics. Palanki claimed that he suffered hearing damage while using 3Ms combat arms earplugs while on active duty with the Army at a base in Texas. 3M Earplug Lawsuit Update! Kevin Rhodes, 3Ms Chief Legal Affairs Officer, gave a somewhat delusional presentation at the Conference last Wednesday on the status of the earplug lawsuits. The average amount of compensatory damages awarded to the 6 successful plaintiffs is $1,216,322, but this average is skewed by the Atkins case in which all $8.2 million in damages were compensatory. Friday morning (January 14, 2022) was Day 5. Judge Rodgers explained that both sides are entrenched in their respective data metrics and that this has been the primary roadblock to getting a global settlement done. We talked to many soldiers over the weekend about the 3M earplug lawsuit. August 31, 2022 Update: 3M filed its long-shot appeal of the recent Bankruptcy Court ruling by Judge Graham that blocked its controversial attempt to force the earplug lawsuits to be resolved within a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. The claims would then be sent to their home federal court districts for trial. August 17, 2022 Update: On Sunday, Judge Casey Rodgers issued an Order denying the recent motion by the earplug plaintiffs asking her to rule that 3M has sole liability for the earplug claims and has waived any successor liability defense. The motion argues that the stay should not apply to these suits because they do not involve claims of direct liability against Aearo. Too many lawyers have filed 3M earplug lawsuits without making sure their clients have a viable claim. What in the world is going on here? 3M has maybe $35 billion in assets and is worth approximately $100 billion. For the first time, this litigation has meaningfully impacted 3Ms stock price. September 8, 2022 Update: The 3M earplug mediation is scheduled for next week on September 15-16, 2022 at the United States District Court in Pensacola, Florida. May 20, 2022 Update: Good golly! So the design flaw was that the earplugs stem needed longer for soldiers with large, or even average, ear canals. 3M was feeling very bullish immediately after the verdict was returned. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 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. This is encouraging news. If you are following this litigation, Berger needs no introduction. 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.. He claims this number is supported by experts, which is truly insanity. March 3, 2023 Update: Quote from plaintiffs lawyers in Bloomberg article on the 3Ms estimation motion: There is simply no route for 3M to resolve this litigation if it continues to take the offensive and impractical position that 90 percent of service members and veterans are liars with worthless claims.. December 15, 2022 Update: Reuters does a nice job summarizing 3Ms bankruptcy appeal. Our lawyers have consistently said that the average settlement amount in the first round of settlement will average between $50,000 and $100,000. What is the status of the 3M lawsuit? Dr. Packers direct examination lasted almost 5 hours, followed by a 2-hour cross-exam. "@type": "FAQPage", 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. Fallow is an audiologist and Technical Senior Service, Specialist. On Wednesday, the plaintiffs presented the testimony of Elliott Berger (via Zoom video call). Under the metric endorsed by 3M, nearly 85% of the plaintiffs have no evidence of hearing loss and should be excluded from any settlement. The question most people reading this have is will the 3M earplug class action reach a settlement before this trial? { With no upcoming trial dates, there is no great pressure on 3M and the company has shown an unwillingness to be serious about offering reasonable earplug settlement amounts to resolve this litigation. The message is clear: if you do not want to offer reasonable settlement amounts, you better gear up for a massive wave of additional trials next year. Blog Home. Ive said over and over that I believe 3M is a good company that just refuses, for whatever reason, to take an honest look and the exposure it has in this litigation. The plaintiffs counsel presented a short 40-minute rebuttal case and then the court heard oral arguments from both sides in support of their motions for judgment as a matter of law on various issues. We will see if this is the catalyst for meaningful settlement talks to resolve the 3M earplug class action lawsuit. Scores of lawsuits filed by service members soon followed. July 25, 2022 Update: In the 10 days following the settlement mediation that was ordered by MDL Judge Casey Rodgers, the plaintiffs lawyers have filed several motions pushing wave cases forward. September 20, 2022 Update: No global settlement. I dont think this is going to work for 3M. Why? These veterans can now sue 3M and demand financial compensation. If we were keeping score by Rounds, the plaintiffs would be ahead 4 to 3. November 24, 2022 Update: 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies was recently granted an extension of the deadline to file its appeal brief in the 7th Circuit. The Bankruptcy Court has scheduled a Status Conference to address the Motion to Dismiss recently filed by the 3M earplug MDL plaintiffs. The lawsuits are affecting 3M shares and signal a warning to other companies that liability risks may outweigh the gains from manufacturing similar protective products. 3M has used him as an expert in all bellwether trials. A 2016 lawsuit filed by a whistleblower alleged that 3M had violated the False Claims Act by selling to the Defense Logistics Agency earplugs with a known design defect that, in the Department of Justice's words, "hampered the effectiveness" of the device. The 7th bellwether trial was held simultaneously in Tallahassee in the case of Guillermo Camarillorazo v. 3M Company, et al. January 3, 2022 Update: The 3M earplug bellwether trials will resume on Monday with a pair of simultaneous trials featuring plaintiffs Ronald E. Sloan and Williams Wayman. The nonlinear dual-ended Combat Arms Earplug Version 2 (CAEv2) was supposed to protect users by filtering peak-level noises. March 21, 2022 Update:The current bellwether trial is proceeding on schedule and should conclude at the end of this week with a final verdict hopefully coming Friday afternoon. My lawyer said this is a stall tactic and will not work in the end. They were sold to the military for $7.63. The claimants in this MDL are all veterans who have fought and sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country's honor. 3M has used anonymity to its advantage because it has not had to deal with the intense external pressure of investors pushing for a resolution. Our lawyers are handling these cases. It might involve settlements for the lawsuit inventory of specific law firms, as opposed to a global settlement for all plaintiffs. MDL Judge Casey Rogers has given 3M a deadline of December 5th to file a response. A confidentiality agreement concerning the details of the discussion binds the lawyers. If nothing else, it is good momentum going into the 3M earplug settlement talks set to being on July 15, 2022. Need an attorney for the 3M Earplug Lawsuit? The lawsuit alleges that 3M knew that its earplugs were defective and that the company failed to warn consumers about the risks associated with using the earplugs. The only caveat is that 3M will now file an immediate appeal of this new ruling, and the MDL cases will be stayed pending the outcome of that appeal. July 16, 2022 Update: Should you be optimistic or pessimistic going into the settlement talks heading into Day 2 today? More delay unless there is a settlement. Judge Rodgers stated that a perfectly solvent defendant such as 3M should not be entitled to bankruptcy protection simply because the MDL is not going the way it wants. 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. (Tribune News Service) A 3M subsidiary claims that U.S. Defense Department records show that over 175,00 military members who allege the Maplewood-based companys earplugs were defective have normal hearing under key medical standards. The trial is already off to a good start. In one of the largest U.S. mass torts, 3M faces over 200,000 lawsuits in U.S. District Court in northern Florida. August 25, 2022 Update: As of 9:07 a.m. no ruling from Judge Graham. "acceptedAnswer": { Now 3M might have a greater interest. Twelve new 3M lawsuits were filed today; 30 were filed yesterday. We get it. This means that the oral argument could be scheduled as soon as April or May 2023, and a ruling could come soon afterward. How do you efficiently sort out 300,000 claims to figure it out? 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. The next trial in group D will follow immediately after in Pensacola on Monday, March 28, 2022, with the case of Denise Kelley. Lets go back to the individual settlement value of these cases because all victims have a keen interest in claim value. (3:19-cv-2324). June 15, 2022 Update: Settlement conference in 3M lawsuit set for July 15, 2022. The Justice Department settled a lawsuit with 3M in July 2018 that the company defrauded the government by selling earplugs with "dangerous design defects" to the military for "more than a decade" from 2003 to 2015. Can you see why 3M wanted to hide from juries in bankruptcy court? By 5:30 the jury had decided that Palanki failed to prove any of his claims against 3M and returned a defense verdict. Preparing this many cases is a logistical nightmare. July 27, 2022 Update: 3Ms new strategy to resolve the earplug lawsuits in a bankruptcy proceeding is being directed by new legal counsel that the company recently retained to help deal with their mounting litigation troubles. On the 3rd day of trial, the plaintiffs presented the testimony of Elliott Berger. 3M (NYSE:MMM) on Thursday rose as much as 4.3% after a news report said the company claimed that U.S. Department of Defense records for more than 175,000 plaintiffs in the Combat Arms lawsuits . But she will allow an immediate appeal of her ruling. It is hard to predict how long one of these mega trials might take. Plaintiffs have always wanted to settle these lawsuits. When will the 3M earplug lawsuit settle? In one of the largest U.S. mass torts, 3M faces over 200,000 lawsuits in U.S. District Court in northern Florida. This sounds like a bad thing, right? Now that the bankruptcy plan has been rejected, Judge Rodgers has decided to force 3M to march right back to the settlement table and do it again. To help push the settlement negotiations, Judge Rodgers appointed Randi S. Ellis as the special master for the mediation. There are currently about 233,000 cases in the MDL (down from the high of 282,902) and these cases will soon be returned to their home districts for trial in massive blocks of 500 lawsuits at a time. October 7, 2022 Update: 3M stock lost billions of dollars in value yesterday. Our lawyers looked at the applicable law and believed the plaintiffs would defeat this argument. Berger, as every reader of these updates knows, is a former 3M audiology scientist and head of the 3M Personal Safety Division. 3M has a choice. After the District Court trials, 3M placed the Aearo subsidiary in Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indiana. Combat Arms Earplugs left veterans entirely unprotected from damaging high-level sounds. Berger was personally involved in the development and testing of the Combat Arms earplugs. In her memorandum order, Judge Rodgers explained that Wilkerson was entitled to summary judgment on four out of the five affirmative defenses. But a mass tort of this size has never had to face the logistical challenges that come with this many victims. Rogers hit 3M with this unprecedented sanction for what she described as 3Ms brazen abuse of the litigation process. The sanction prevents 3M from avoiding liability for the earplug claims by shifting blame to Aearo Technologies, the subsidiary which filed bankruptcy in August. 3Ms stock lost billions of dollars when the bankruptcy effort failed because not a single financial analyst or lawyer in America is pricing $1 billion as the settlement value of the 3M lawsuits. After presenting short bits of video testimony from a handful of witnesses, 3M rested. We need to prove the basic elements of the claim and being in the military is one of those basic elements. October 23, 2022 Update: 3M got some excellent news this week, albeit soft good news. 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. November 17, 2022 Update: The judge in the bankruptcy filed by 3M subsidiary Aero Technologies has ruled that 3Ms law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, can continue to represent Aero in the bankruptcy. Indeed, the expected average individual settlement amount is rising based on these three verdicts. At the same time, the plaintiffs brief in response to 3Ms appeal is due in the 11th Circuit early next month. We think this is an effort by Judge Rodgers to facilitate continued settlement negotiations between 3M and the plaintiffs by giving everyone involved in the litigation a better idea of the scope and nature of the 268,000 hearing loss claims currently on the table. 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. My favorite line from the order: Furthermore, it is nonsensical to argueas 3M hasthat a stay of the Courts injunction promotes the public interest.. One big issue no one can answer: how many truly viable 3M lawsuits are there? December 20, 2021 Update: Another bellwether test trial concluded last week in the 3M Combat Arms Earplugs litigation. The design of these earplugs was a comedy of errors. Our law firm handles 3M earplug lawsuits throughout the country. But with these three trials completed, it is hard to say what will get 3M in more of a reasonable settlement posture. What does it mean to you that the JPML consolidated all the federal earplug claims in Florida? 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. The mandatory settlement conference ordered by the MDL Judge for next month appears to be what captured this recent attention. We are contingency fee lawyers. Can I repeat that? This is good news for 3M. I thought the jury verdicts would do it. 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. February 20, 2023 Update: New 3M earplug cases continue to get filed in large numbers. It is. August 29, 2022: This Fortune article has a quote that is on point: Like most things that sound too good to be true, [the bankruptcy option] was. The bankruptcy judge was not persuaded, although he noted that a conflict could undoubtedly arise in the future and that K&E was navigating a minefield.. Our lawyers are handling 3M earplug lawsuits in all 50 states. The doctrine bars service members and civilian government employees from bringing claims against the U.S. government for injuries that arose out of or were sustained while engaged in activity incident to service.. Kelley will be the second female bellwether plaintiff. February 14, 2022 Update: My belief has always been that 3M needs real pressure to come to the settlement table ready to offer reasonable compensation payouts. October 6, 2022 Update: 3M canceled the settlement talks set for October 6, 2022. But the litigation and appellate calendar affords 3M the opportunity to put its head in the sand. The Justice Department said that 3M Co. unit Aearo Technologies LLC should be thrown out of bankruptcy court, citing the recent dismissal of a similar case involving a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.. Aearo's Chapter 11 case is an "abuse of the bankruptcy system" that was engineered to benefit its highly solvent corporate parent and avoid ongoing litigation stemming from allegedly faulty . If anything will push 3M to offer reasonable individual settlement amounts in the earplug lawsuits, it will be pressure from Wall Street for 3M to take its lumps and wrap up this litigation. Our lawyers believe there could be a global settlement in 2023. So hiring another lawyer is unlikely to speed up the path to a 3M earplug settlement. This is bad. Rhodes then devoted the rest of his presentation to claiming that the settlement value of the earplug lawsuits should be $1 billion a paltry amount that would pay less than $5,000 to each plaintiff. The U.S. approved reasonably precise specifications; The equipment conformed to those precise specifications; and. { You can reach our earplug lawyers at 800-553-8082 for a free consultation. They were developed by Aearo Technologies, which eventually sold their company to 3M. { 3M also filed a motion objecting to the plaintiffs request to present rebuttal testimony from their expert Dr. Gershwin. March 22, 2022 Update: Plaintiff Steven Wilkerson closed his case yesterday and 3M immediately filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law. July 29, 2022 Update: In a recently filed brief, 3M argued that its new bankruptcy strategy was necessary because it claims that the earplugs MDL proceeding is broken beyond repair. They seemed fine availing themselves of the system until they started getting their brains beaten trial after trial. They modified the design by shortening the earplugs. Is The 3M Earplug Lawsuit Worth It? Our lawyers and many soldiers we have talked to agree with 3M on this point. Ron even fought to reduce how much I owed in medical bills so I could get an even larger settlement. Nearly four years ago, in January 2019, an earplug victims attorney filed a motion asking the U.S. The settlement payouts will likely be less. So the 16th and final bellwether trial concluded this afternoon with this massive $77.5 million verdict for the plaintiff, Army veteran James Beal. Summary judgment on this motion might render that appeal moot. After hearing closing arguments from both sides, the jury went back to deliberate the case after lunchtime on Friday, November 12. In that case, like this case, J&J was using Chapter 11 to end run facing judgment from juries. The trial is scheduled to last two weeks and will be conducted before Judge Robin L. Rosenberg at the federal courthouse in Pensacola. In an official company statement, 3M described the verdict in Palanki as an important demonstration that jurors agree 3Ms CAEv2 product was safe and effective to use. But then the big verdict came just a few days later. That is $20 billion. In cases where an MDL judge believes the claims have merit, the judge always wants a successful resolution to the litigation and that means a settlement. Posted on October 27, 2021 in Class Actions . Dr. Crawford is an ENT doctor who spent 24 years in the Army where he specialized in hearing protection. 3M believes that a large percentage of these plaintiffs do not have legitimate claims. But is it not important in the litigation. These defective earplugs have led to hearing damage, tinnitus, and other conditions, according to thousands of service members. There is also reason to be pessimistic. Call 954-384-6114. June 1, 2022 Update: MDL Judge Casey Rodgers reduced the $55 million verdict awarded to William Wayman, one of the two plaintiffs in the 11th bellwether trial that resulted in a blockbuster $110 million verdict. 3M previously agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly sold its earplugs to the Defense Logistics Agency without disclosing defects that decreased the hearing. What is Data Day? No serious lawyer agrees with that premise, including 3Ms lawyers. Both trials are scheduled to last two weeks and then more 3M earplug lawsuits are set to go to trial in April and May. The earplug bellwether trials with one plaintiff have required two weeks each. May 17, 2022: Lets get you up to speed on what is happening in the Beal trial. Day 6 of the trial featured a series of short video deposition clips and testimony from the plaintiffs wife, Heather Beal, and several other fact witnesses, including friends or family members of Mr. Beal. 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.
