3M supported consolidation of cases into MDL
December 2015
A five-member panel consolidated a group of lawsuits against 3M Company and the 3M Bair Hugger Warming System in to a Multi-District Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. In supporting the decision, 3M said it is “now convinced that consolidation of this litigation in an MDL in Minnesota will provide the fastest and most efficient means of vindicating their product. Although the formation of an MDL would still raise the spectre of intimidating medical providers into forgoing use of the Bair Hugger [system] and thus risking patient health, Defendants have concluded that that risk can best be managed through the quick and efficient disposal of these spurious claims, and that an MDL will best speed that resolution.’’
3M also told the court that “use of the Bair Hugger [system] does not increase contamination at the surgical site but actually [can] reduce the risk of surgical site infections’’ through normothermia maintenance….and that the company remains “confident that the facts and the scientific and medical evidence will completely exonerate the Bair Hugger [system].’’