Attorneys often use bellwether verdicts to gauge how juries may view similar claims, helping them assess the potential value of remaining cases and guide settlement negotiations.
The plaintiffs who are settling with TikTok are SJ, a 15-year-old girl from Illinois who has alleged the social media platforms caused her to suffer from self-harm, anxiety, depression, addiction and an eating disorder; PMY, a 15-year-old from New Jersey who has alleged addiction, depression and self-harm; and KDB, an 18-year-old from Mississippi who alleged that overuse of the platforms caused anxiety, depression, addiction, self-harm and an eating disorder, according to VanZandt.
The settlements come after another bellwether case ended before trial in July, when a teenage plaintiff dropped his claims against Meta after the other defendants settled.
The first trial in the litigation, which ended in March, resulted in a US$4.2 million verdict against Meta and a US$1.8 million one against Google in a case brought by a woman who said she became addicted to social media platforms at a young age because of their attention-grabbing design. TikTok and Snap settled that case before trial.
Another 2,600 cases making similar claims, brought by individuals, school districts, municipalities and states, are pending in California federal court. In addition, nearly every state attorney general has sued social media companies in their own state courts.
