2023-08-27 21:16:29
bankruptcy strategy
3M had sought to avoid liability by having its unit, Aero Technologies, seek creditor protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021, to thwart the cases. Critics, including law professors and advocates, attacked Consumer protection, this maneuver and consider it a model for evading the profitable companies that use this process as a shield without submitting a bankruptcy application themselves.
Last June, a bankruptcy judge dismissed Aero’s case, ruling that 3M did not have any kind of financial problem that would justify using bankruptcy law to administer litigation. Aero appealed the ruling. Also, during the current year, a similar case filed by Johnson & Johnson to settle claims that the powder it manufactures causes cancer, by resorting to bankruptcy law, was also rejected.
With 3M’s bankruptcy strategy flailing, lawyers for the company and military service members sought a settlement through mediation called for by the judge hearing the earplugs suit, US District Judge Casey Rodgers. In May, Rodgers, who served in the Army between 1985 and 1987, ordered 3M CEO Mike Roman to fly to Florida for negotiations.
According to the lawsuits, the earplugs were defective over a 12-year period, starting in 2003. In 2012, there were 971,990 claims for tinnitus symptoms to the US Veterans Administration, government records show. Experts estimate that these claims are increasing by 15% annually.
The earplug deal isn’t the first 3M has done. In 2018, following a whistleblower lawsuit, the company agreed to pay $9.1 million to settle civil claims by the US Department of Justice for failing to inform the military of deficiencies of which it was aware.
As for the “eternal chemicals” lawsuit, 3M has agreed to pay up to $12.5 billion to clean up drinking water supplies across the United States contaminated with these chemicals.
Earplugs case registered under:
Re 3M Products Liability Litigation, 19-md-2885, US District Court, Northern District of Florida (Pensacola)
1693177471
#pays #billion #settle #earplugs #case #America
