The Portland, Bangor and Lewiston lawsuits, along with many others, will now be influenced by three “bellwether cases” set to be tried in the Northern District of Ohio next year, said Paul Napoli, a New York-based lawyer for the Maine cities, as well as many others. Settlements in those cases, brought by the city of Cleveland and two Ohio counties, could mean the same thing for the Maine cases, which are likely to otherwise be tried in federal court here, Napoli said. “This is a national crisis and Maine is particularly hard hit,” said the lawyer, who is also represents Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, a bellwether plaintiff. “Anything the judge can do to speed up the process will certainly benefit the people of Maine.” Download