3M Is Denied Bankruptcy Shield Against Mass Earplug Claims

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 earplug injury lawsuits that its subsidiary Aearo Technologies LLC received by filing for chapter 11 last month.