In a significant win for U.S. veterans across the country, a United States bankruptcy judge in Indiana refused to support 3M Co.’s attempt to temporarily stop more than 230,000 lawsuits related to 3M’s defective earplugs from moving forward. These lawsuits accuse 3M and its bankrupt subsidiary, Aearo Technologies LLC, of selling faulty combat earplugs that damaged the hearing of veterans who used them.
Last month, 3M attempted to assign all their liabilities related to the Combat Ear Plug litigation to Aearo Technologies, and then, in a matter of days, placed the subsidiary into bankruptcy and sought a stay of all proceedings as to 3M while the bankruptcy progressed.
This sham tactic is an attempt to use insolvency proceedings as a way to impede jury trials related to their defective earplug products. Read on …