3M Judgment Upheld in Minnesota Warming Blanket Cases

3M convinced a Minnesota appeals court to affirm the dismissal of 61 cases in a Minnesota state-court proceeding alleging a surgical warming blanket caused infection.

The plaintiffs’ experts couldn’t reliably testify about the forced-air warming technology behind the “Bair Hugger” or its likelihood of causing infection, the Minnesota Court of Appeals said Jan. 14.

Other evidence presented to the trial judge also showed no scientific consensus that the products can cause infection, the appeals court said.

3M still faces about 4,900 Bair Hugger cases in a federal multidistrict proceeding. The company won the first federal test trial last fall. The ...