3M Unit Defends Request to Shield Parent From Mass Earplug Lawsuits –

Lawyers representing 3M Co. ’s bankrupt Aearo Technologies LLC subsidiary defended its request to a bankruptcy judge to extend a litigation stay to the parent company to resolve mass earplug lawsuits, saying such a move would be in line with other court rulings.

Aearo Technologies lawyer Chad Husnick on Wednesday said before Judge Jeffrey Graham of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis that even though 3M itself didn’t file for bankruptcy, it also should be shielded from the 230,000 pending lawsuits that alleged 3M’s military earplugs were defective. Without the protection, Mr. Husnick said, mass lawsuits would continue against 3M in the U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., and would complicate earplug unit Aearo’s restructuring.