Remote Depositions To Help Earplugs Lawsuits Move Forward

Remote Depositions To Help Earplugs Lawsuits Move Forward

Introduction

The U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers, presiding over all federal military 3M combat earplugs lawsuits, issued a case management order, last week, asking parties involved in the litigation to propose a joint remote deposition protocol by May 6.

According to the case management order, Judge Rodgers stated that "due to the ban on non-mission-essential domestic travel for all DOD military and civilian personnel through June 30, 2020, the parties will communicate with Major Evans to schedule and conduct remote depositions of two government witnesses in May 2020."

It further stated that "if the remote deposition technology proves effective and reliable during these depositions, then the remaining government depositions in this litigation will proceed remotely for as long as the DoD travel restrictions remain in place."

The remaining corporate depositions are to be scheduled in June, and whether it should be in-person or remote will depend on the status of the public health crisis and the effectiveness and reliability of the remote deposition technology used for the depositions of government witnesses in May 2020.

Upcoming Case Management Conferences are scheduled for the following dates:

May 29, 2020

June 26, 2020

July 29, 2020

August 28, 2020

September 18, 2020

October 23, 2020

November 20, 2020

December 14, 2020

The U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers identified a group of 20 cases and five alternates to be a part of early 3M earplug bellwether trials, set to begin next year.

Judge Rodgers identified cases in a pretrial order issued on February 27 that will be a part of an initial pool from both filed and pending claims identified through a census program organized by the Court.

The judge even informed that the parties must respond to written discovery by May 15, and complete core discovery by July 31, as per a previous order. The court will then create four trial groups and assign five cases to each group, which will be eligible to go before juries. The other five cases will serve as alternates.
 
Currently, more than 100,000 claims are filed by veterans, each raising similar allegations that their hearing loss injuries were caused by defective 3M earplugs that were standard issue by the government between 2003 and 2015.