Bellwethers exist because trying hundreds of thousands of cases is impossible. Courts and parties select representative cases, try them, and use the outcomes as valuation signals. In the 3M earplug litigation, juries decided 16 bellwethers — plaintiffs won 10 with over $300 million awarded to just 13 people — yet none of those verdicts decided any of the other roughly 260,000 claims.
Headline bellwether verdicts and eventual per-person settlements differ enormously. Roundup bellwethers produced $289 million and $2 billion verdicts; the eventual global settlement averaged roughly $80,000–$110,000 per claim. A verdict is a pricing signal, not a promise.
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