What is a bellwether trial?

The purpose of an MDL is to streamline the process of pretrial litigation in a mass tort case. Towards the end of this process, one or more plaintiffs whose claims are representative of the plaintiffs will have their cases selected for what is called a “bellwether trial.”

The outcome of this trial (or trials) will help both the other plaintiffs and the defendant(s) to forecast what could happen in future trials.

Often, when bellwether trials go in favor of the plaintiffs, it leads to the defendant(s) going forward with a settlement that will resolve all other claims, or a “global settlement.”