The first bellwether trial brought by former military service members against 3M and predecessor, Aearo LLC for allegedly defective earplugs started March 29 in Pensacola, FL. The plaintiffs include three Army veterans who claim that from 2003-2015, 3M knowingly...
Sacklers Balk at Chapter 11 Deal Without Litigation Injunction Extension
In a statement to the bankruptcy court on March 23, the family of Raymond Sackler advised that unless the injunction shielding the Sackler family from litigation was extended, they would withdraw their proposed $4.275 billion cash contribution to the settlement fund...
Litigation Update: Defense Argues That Plaintiffs’ Expert Fails to Establish Link Between Zofran and Heart Defects
In a hearing on March 24 in the Zofran Products Liability MDL, counsel for defendant GlaxoSmithKline asked U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to grants its motion for summary judgment, arguing that the plaintiffs’ own expert failed to make a link between the drug...
Litigation Update: 3M Earplugs MDL Bellwether Trials Set to Start with Issues of Expert Testimony and Juror Influence Before the Court
At a March 13 hearing in Florida federal court, two industrial hygienists were barred from testifying in the upcoming multidistrict litigation involving defective earplugs manufactured by 3M. In their motion, plaintiffs challenged the expert testimony of two...
Litigation Update: New Filings on TikTok’s $92 Million Proposed Settlement Plan
On March 24th, new briefs were filed in the TikTok MDL as mandated by U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee. These fillings came in response to the judge’s questions in reference to the proposed settlement of March 2nd. The judge had requested further information about...
Litigation Update: J&J, Imerys Ask New Jersey State Court to Throw Out Verdicts Totaling $117M
At a hearing before a New Jersey state appeals court on March 9, attorneys for Johnson & Johnson and Imerys Talc America sought to throw out verdicts totaling $117 million awarded in a case brought by Stephen Lanzo and his wife, Kendra; the plaintiffs alleged that...
Litigation Update: Trove of Internal Documents to be Produced in Opioid Litigation
As part of a global resolution to the opioid litigation, pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors have agreed to make public millions of pages of internal documents that detail the aggressive marketing and sales methods that fueled the epidemic. OxyContin...
Litigation Update: Judge in Data Breach MDL Appoints Diverse Plaintiffs’ Leadership Team
Five weeks after the judge presiding over the data breach MDL involving cloud management software firm Blackbaud Inc. issued an order inviting the parties to consider appointing a diverse team to lead the litigation, counsel did just that. In an order dated February...
Litigation Update: Verdicts Against Bard and J&J Totaling $83M Overturned
On March 2, a three-judge appeals panel in New Jersey overturned two verdicts totaling more than $83 million against Johnson & Johnson and C.R. Bard, Inc. on the grounds that the trial court had erred by preventing the defendants from presenting certain evidence...
Litigation Update: 3M Argues PFAS Lawsuit Should Go To Michigan Federal Court
In a hearing on March 2, attorneys for defendant 3M Company argued to a Michigan federal court that a lawsuit filed earlier in Michigan’s Washtenaw Circuit Court belonged in federal court since it was based in part on work done for the federal government. The state...