3M Loses Bid for Quick Appeal on Immunity in Earplug Suits

3M Co. won’t have a chance to appeal a decision denying it immunity before other proceedings, including some trials, play out in litigation over allegedly defective military earplugs, a federal court in Florida ruled Monday.

Judge M. Casey Rodgers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in July denied 3M’s defense that its subsidiary Aearo Technologies LLC designed the Combat Arms Earplug Version 2 as a government contractor.

3M didn’t show the exceptional circumstances necessary for immediate, or interlocutory, appellate review, Rodgers said Monday.

3M and Aearo “will have an opportunity to appeal the summary judgment ...