U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers, in the Northern District of Florida, has appointed attorneys for lead discovery, pretrial proceedings in 3M Earplugs MDL No. 2885.
According to a pretrial order issued on May 22, Judge Rodgers has selected a group of 53 plaintiffs’ attorneys to serve in various leadership roles. The role allocation has been done in the following manner: one to serve as plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel, two to serve as Co-Lead Counsel, two to serve as Co-Liaison Counsel, seven plaintiffs’ attorneys to form an Executive Committee and 15 attorneys to serve as a Steering Committee. Additionally, four attorneys have been appointed to a “Discovery & ESI Subcommittee”, six for an “Early Vetting Subcommittee”, five for a “Law, Briefing & Legal Drafting Subcommittee”, six for a “Science & Experts Subcommittee”, five for a “Common Benefit Fund Committee”, two for a “Joint Discovery/ESI Committee”, four for a “Joint Armed Services Committee”, two for a “Joint Statutes of Limitations Committee” and three for a “Joint Settlement Committee”.
More than 640 injury lawsuits related to the defective earplugs are centralized as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2885; In Re: 3M Combat Arms Earplugs Litigation) which is presided by Judge M. Casey Rodgers in the Northern District of Florida against Minnesota-based 3M.