According to a pretrial order issued by Judge Rodgers on May 05, all future federal 3M earplug lawsuits can be filed directly in the Northern District of Florida where the multidistrict litigation (MDLNo. 2885; In Re: 3M Combat Arms Earplug Litigation) is centralized. The order outlines the procedures for the direct filing of cases in the MDL. In accordance to this order, there will be no impact on the choice of law, including the statute of limitations, or else would have applied to an individual case had it been filed in the Designated Forum and removed and/or transferred to this court.
There are around 600 military veterans who have filed lawsuits over hearing loss allegedly linked to 3M earplugs. Further, around tens of thousands of cases are expected to be filed by veterans nationwide. A set of representative claims will be presented before a jury for the parties to gauge how the jurors respond to certain evidence and that is likely to be repeated throughout the litigation. If the parties fail to reach settlements or another resolution, individual lawsuits might be remanded back to different district courts nationwide for separate trial dates in the future.
