Representatives for 3M Co. and veterans who sued the company claiming faulty combat earplugs failed to protect them from hearing loss must attend settlement talks with a court-appointed mediator within 30 days, a federal court in Florida said.
The parties must negotiate in good faith, Judge M. Casey Rodgers said Tuesday for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Rodgers, who oversees the more than 220,000-case multi-district litigation, said 3M’s Aearo Technologies LLC subsidiary may participate in the mediation. Acquired by 3M in 2008, the earplug maker is seeking Chapter 11 protection in a federal bankruptcy court ...
