3M Military Earplug Lawyers To Meet With Judge Appointed To Preside Over Hearing Loss Lawsuits

3M Company currently faces more than 600 product liability lawsuits filed in U.S. District Courts nationwide by veterans left with hearing loss following service between 2003 and 2015, and the size of the litigation is expected to continue to grow as hearing loss lawyers continue to review and file complaints alleging the company knowingly sold defective earplugs to the U.S. military.

The lawyers involved in the lawsuits will meet for the first time next week with the judge recently appointed to preside over coordinated pretrial proceedings for the claims.

AboutLawsuits has more details on the latest developments here.

Class action on behalf of soldiers and veterans against manufacturers of defective earplugs -- UPDATED

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has agreed to consolidate and centralize all 3M Combat Arms Earplug lawsuits pending throughout the federal court system, each raising similar allegations that veterans were left with permanent hearing damage as a result of design defects with the reversible earplugs that were standard issue by the U.S. military between 2003 and 2015.  You can read one the original complaints here, and get more information here, here and here.

UPDATE 4/13/19:  AboutLawsuits.com has a new post on this issue here.

How Have Tort Defendants Fared at the Illinois Supreme Court Since 1990? --- UPDATED

If you are interested in statistical evidence on litigation issues in Illinois, take a look at the Illinois Supreme Court Review Blog.  In its most recent posts on the subject, they discuss trends in tort law cases.  You can read "How Have Tort Defendants Fared at the Court Since 1990? Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

UPDATE 4/11/19:  Part 3 of the series is now here.

US Supreme Court to decide another maritime law tort case this term

About a week ago, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case called The Dutra Group v. Batterton, which asks the Court to decide whether a seaman can recover punitive damages in a personal injury suit based on the unseaworthiness of a vessel on which he was working.   The SCotUS blog has an analysis of the oral argument here.  You can also review all the relevant documents in the case and links to more information here.

Video on the first U.S. wrongful death suit related to the Ethiopian Airlines crash

After Ethiopia released preliminary findings from an ongoing investigation into the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed last month and after the first American wrongful death lawsuit against Boeing was filed, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg stated that "It’s our responsibility to eliminate this risk. We own it. And we know how to do it."  (See here.)

Democracy now, has a report including an interview with the plaintiffs in that first lawsuit, filed against Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration here.  The first part of the report are statements by family members expressing their emotional loss.

At the 22:46 mark, the attorney for the plaintiffs explains some of the evidence in support of their claims.

NY Times article on lawsuits against Purdue Pharma for its role in fostering the opioid crisis

This morning the New York Times has posted an article on the lawsuits filed against the Sackler family and Purdue Pharmaceuticals for its role in the opioid crisis.  You can read it here.