![]() The first bellwether trial found $7.1 million in damages for the veterans involved. In the 3M case, courts across the Eleventh Circuit held 16 bellwether trials. The court then uses the outcomes from the bellwether cases to gauge jury reactions and create a guideline for how much the entire MDL is worth. In this situation, the veterans’ and Kirkland’s attorneys alternated picking the plaintiffs for the bellwether trials. In the bellwether process a representative sample of cases from the larger body of lawsuits go before a jury. The MDL process uses “bellwether trials” to help determine outcomes and damages for all affected. While class-actions combine all claims into a single suit, MDLs keep the claims separate but place them all before the same court. MDLs are like class-action lawsuits in that both streamline the litigation process by bringing together similarly situated claims. These suits have been consolidated into an MDL. However, 3M refused to accept liability (legal responsibility) for its actions.Īside from the whistleblower settlement, individual veterans who have suffered because of the faulty earplugs have filed civil suits. In light of these accusations, 3M paid the government $9.1 million. The complaint alleges that 3M and its subsidiary, Aearo, knew that the earplug design was defective when bidding for the government contract, made false statements, and designed faulty tests to keep selling the earplugs to the government. A whistleblower complaint raised the initial allegations against 3M. government for selling protective hearing equipment it knew to be defective. According to the Hearing Loss Association of America, “ hearing loss has been shown to negatively impact nearly every dimension of the human experience, including physical health, emotional and mental health, perceptions of mental acuity, social skills, family relationship, and self-esteem. Meanwhile, in some instances, tinnitus may interact with insomnia and anxiety, creating a vicious cycle that exacerbates each issue. For example, the National Institutes of Health has found a strong association between hearing loss and depression. ![]() Studies have found that hearing loss contributes to a host of other issues. 3M’s earplugs failed to protect servicemembers during training and in the field of battle. They all claim that the faulty earplugs are part of or the entire cause of these losses. Still more of the plaintiffs suffer from a combination of hearing loss and tinnitus. Others now live with tinnitus, hearing a ringing in their ears that is not caused by external sound. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of servicemembers used these earplugs.Īll 290,000 veterans and servicemembers in this MDL have alleged that 3M’s earplugs have harmed their hearing in some capacity. Military anyway, and then lied about the defects. However, in this case, the common (alleged) facts are that 3M produced defective combat earplugs, discovered the defects, sold the earplugs to the U.S. 3M would like you to recognize its name because of its Post-It Notes™. Kirkland & Ellis is representing the company 3M in the largest ever multidistrict litigation (MDL) – a mechanism to consolidate cases with common facts all before one court – in 3M’s attempt to avoid paying for injuries its faulty products caused veterans. ![]() ![]() ![]() Left out of the narrative is how, over the last four years, Kirkland has also been fighting against nearly 300,000 veterans and servicemembers in court. A screenshot of Kirkland’s homepage on Veterans Day 2022. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |