Two more bellwether cases dismissed by plaintiffs; case initially slated for December trial also to be dismissed

3M scored two more victories this week when plaintiffs’ attorneys dismissed two more bellwether cases in the multidistrict litigation involving the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ warming system.

The latest dismissals came on December 3, 2018, when plaintiffs’ lawyers voluntarily dropped Ruth and Douglas Goodpaster v. 3M and Terry Arnold v. 3M.

So far, plaintiffs’ attorneys have voluntarily dismissed eight bellwether cases, which were considered representative of the entire pool of cases. In the only bellwether case that has gone to trial, a jury deliberated less than two hours before finding in favor of 3M.

Also, a trial that was slated to begin on December 3 – the bellwether case of Nancy Axline v. 3M – has been removed from the court’s calendar after most of the plaintiff’s claims were dismissed by the court. That case has not been formally dismissed yet.

Overall, more than 550 lawsuits filed against the Bair Hugger warming system have been dismissed. No cases have been resolved in favor of a plaintiff.

3M contends that the entire litigation against the Bair Hugger warming system is based upon faulty science orchestrated by a 3M competitor, who has conspired with plaintiffs’ lawyers to attack the reputation of the market-leading warming system.

The Bair Hugger system has been safely used more than 300 million times in the past 30 years and continues to be used on thousands of patients each day.