Selection protocols typically begin with a discovery pool drawn randomly or by agreed criteria, followed by case-specific discovery and then selection of trial cases through party picks, court selection, or a combination.
Protocols aim for cases representative of the inventory rather than the strongest or weakest examples.
Alternative Names:
Bellwether Pool Selection, Trial Selection Process
Why it Matters?
Selection design determines what the bellwether results actually mean. A process producing unrepresentative cases yields verdicts that misprice the inventory, which harms whichever side the outliers favor. Defendants should focus on ensuring the pool reflects the inventory's actual composition, including claims with weak product identification or significant alternative causes, since a pool limited to strong plaintiff cases guarantees results that inflate settlement expectations.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How are bellwether cases selected?
Why does representativeness matter?
