3M’s CEO Ordered to Attend Earplug Talks at ‘Critical Juncture’

Mediation between 3M Co. and service members who allege its combat earplugs failed to protect their hearing is at a “critical juncture,” requiring the presence of 3M’s CEO Mike Roman at the next session, a federal judge ruled.

All members of the service members’ settlement committee must also attend the meeting, Judge M. Casey Rodgers said May 19 for the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The next round of talks is scheduled for May 25 and 26.

The mediation is intended to resolve both the 230,000-plaintiff multidistrict litigation overseen by Rodgers and several thousand cases in ...