A federal appeals court granted 3M Co. ’s request to review a bankruptcy judge’s refusal to stop mass injury lawsuits from proceeding against the conglomerate following the chapter 11 filing of its earplug manufacturing unit, Aearo Technologies LLC. The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago on Wednesday granted Aearo’s petition requesting a direct … Read more
jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images A group of soldiers who claim faulty 3M (NYSE:MMM) earplugs damaged their hearing filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to block the company’s planned spinoff of its healthcare business, which the veterans called an illegal attempt to avoid compensating them. The complaint, filed in federal court in Pensacola, Florida, accused 3M … Read more
3M Co. had good reason to bet that it could use U.S. bankruptcy laws to shield itself from a mountain of personal-injury lawsuits filed over its allegedly defective military earplugs. But after a bankruptcy judge rejected a key aspect of its legal strategy, 3M is facing an uphill battle to find a way to control … Read more
(Bloomberg) — 3M Co.’s plan to use controversial bankruptcy rules to shield itself from some 230,000 lawsuits over military earplugs looked like a relatively simple fix to a long-simmering problem that could cost it billions of dollars. Like most things that sound too good to be true, it was. Now it may be time for … Read more
3M Co. stock tumbled 9.5% on Friday, pacing the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s steep decline after reports indicated that a bankruptcy judge blocked a request from 3M that would have shielded the company from litigation around earplugs that were sold to the military and later alleged to have caused issues such as hearing loss. The … Read more
A bankruptcy judge declined on Friday to shield 3M Co. from continued litigation involving its military earplugs, a setback for the conglomerate’s attempt to shift the mass injury claims to a friendlier forum. Judge Jeffrey Graham of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis said he wouldn’t extend to 3M the same protection against the pending … Read more
jetcityimage/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The federal judge administering more than 200K lawsuits against 3M (NYSE:MMM) questioned Wednesday whether the company acted in good faith when it decided to try to shift the cases to bankruptcy court instead of facing separate jury trials, Bloomberg reports. The judge in Pensacola, Florida, held a hearing about 3M’s … Read more
3M placed its subsidiary that houses its military-grade earplug business into bankruptcy proceedings as it booked a $1.2 billion charge to resolve litigation over alleged defects that are the subject of lawsuits from thousands of military veterans. The move Tuesday came as the maker of Scotch tape, Post-It notes and more reported a drop in … Read more