3M Bair Hugger Evidence Ruling Merits SCOTUS Review, Groups Say

The U.S. Supreme Court should review an Eighth Circuit decision that reinstated thousands of personal injury suits over 3M Co.'s Bair Hugger surgical warming blanket because it used an expert witness admissibility standard that was too lax, several business-oriented groups said in an amicus brief.

This appeal is “emblematic of an important civil justice problem” in federal courts nationwide—"junk science” in mass tort litigation, DRI–The Voice of the Defense Bar, the Washington Legal Foundation, and the Atlantic Legal Foundation said in a March 4 brief supporting 3M’s certiorari petition.

The Bair Hugger consists of a portable heater and blower ...