Judge Favors 3M Plaintiffs Over Choice Of Law

Judge Favors 3M Plaintiffs Over Choice Of Law

Introduction

A pair of orders were released on January 17 and 18 in which U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, presiding over the 3M earplugs multidistrict litigation, ruled in favor of two plaintiffs over the choice of states' laws that should be applied in their upcoming bellwether trials.

According to the orders, Judge Rodgers rejected the defendants' bid to apply Indiana state's law and allowed to apply laws as per Washington and Alaska state where the plaintiffs were injured.

3M predecessor Aearo LLC was headquartered in Indiana, and it had performed some of the design work on the Combat Army Earplugs version 2 (CAEv2) earplugs. The case with Alaska state law will go for a trial on May 17, and the one with Washington state law will go for a trial on June 7.

Last month, a court order was issued in which Judge Rodgers announced that the first bellwether trial, which is scheduled for April 5 through April 30, will involve claims filed by three plaintiffs. Out of the three cases, Georgia law applies to two plaintiffs, and Kentucky law applies for the third one.

The result of these trials will not hold an obligation on other cases and will be closely monitored by the parties as it would influence settlements for veterans, helping avoid the need for individual trials nationwide in the coming years.

Currently, more than 220,000 claims are filed by veterans from state courts in California, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Texas against 3M Company, each raising similar allegations that the hearing loss injuries were caused by defective 3M earplugs that were standard issue by the military between 2003 and 2015.