Welcome to Law.com Class Actions: Critical Mass, a weekly briefing for class action and mass tort attorneys. With 16 bellwether trials completed, what's next in the litigation over 3M's combat earplugs? A federal judge who heard final approval arguments in the $92 million TikTok privacy settlement has asked for e-signatures and declarations from law firms accused of planning "mass opt-outs." Lawyers suing Evenflo over its "Big Kid" boosters petitioned the First Circuit to reinstate the multidistrict litigation.

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3M Earplugs (Photo: Courtesy photo)

Chamber: 'Enormously Consequential' Problem in Earplug Trials

A Florida jury awarded $77.5 million to a U.S. Army veteran, the largest award ever to a single plaintiff in a case over 3M's combat earplugs. It also caps a rapid-fire round of 16 bellwether trials in the multidistrict litigation before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers in Pensacola.

Here's the final tally: Juries in 10 trials awarded a total of more than $300 million to plaintiffs, while 3M won six verdicts.