Six lawsuits from school districts in Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, South Carolina and Arizona have been selected as bellwether cases in the social media addiction MDL, with three from the group selected by the plaintiffs and three by the defendants. On Friday, June 13, the judge presiding over the litigation, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, of the Northern District of California, chose the cases out of the hundreds of plaintiffs who have filed suit against YouTube LLC, Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook and Instagram, alleging that the defendants’ platforms are specifically designed to be addictive, resulting in damages to their minor users.
In her selections, Judge Gonzalez focused on trials that would reflect communities with diverse demographics and socioeconomic backgrounds, in an effort to ensure the results could serve as guides to the strength of the remaining plaintiffs and be relevant to any future negotiations.
The defendants sought to have a number of the plaintiffs excluded on statute of limitations grounds but the judge declined to rule on any statute issues, advising defense counsel that they could move for summary judgment later in the proceedings.
