HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 02-09 Judge restarts Minnesota's long-stalled pollution lawsuit against 3M MINNEAPOLIS/ST.PAUL BUSINESS JOURNAL 2/10/2016 Judge restarts Minnesota's long-stalled pol I ution lawsuit against 3M-Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal
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Judge restarts Minnesota's long-stalled pollution
lawsuit against 3M
Feb 9, 2016, 10:36am CST
A judge has ruled against 3M Co.'s request to
prohibit a law firm from helping Minnesota
officials sue the manufacturer in a potentially
massive fluorochemical pollution case, the
Pioneer Press reports.
Hennepin County District Judge John
McShane's Friday ruling allows the state to
hire Washington, D.C.-based law firm ARIANA LINDQUIST I BLOOMBERG
Covington & Burling, which previously Fluorochernicals have been detected in the
Mississippi River.
represented 3M's fluorochemicals business.
The lawsuit has been on hold since 2012, when Maplewood-based 3M (NYSE:
MMM) sued the law firm in an effort to get it removed as the state's special
attorney. A different Hennepin County judge took Covington & Burling off the
case that same year, a decision that was upheld by the Minnesota Court of
Appeals in 2013.
Then the Minnesota Supreme Court sent the case back to Hennepin County
Court to determine when 3M knew Covington switched sides.
A 3M lawyer told the Pioneer Press this week that McShane's new ruling against
the company was because it didn't complain about the conflict soon enough.
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2/10/2016 Judge restarts Minnesota's long-stalled pol lution lawsuit against 3M-Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal
The state's lawsuit accuses 3M of polluting water across the eastern Twin Cities
metro area with chemicals formerly used to make Scotchgard, fire retardants,
paints and other chemical products.
3M hired Covington for assorted legal work dating back to the 1980s. In 1992,
3M retained Covington partner Peter Hutt to convince the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration that Scotchban, a fluorochemical microwaveable food-
packaging product, was safe.
Covington advised 3M in 2000, when it halted production of certain
fluorochemicals and stopped selling them for food packaging, 3M said.
Covington remained involved with the company's fluorochemicals business
through at least 2006, 3M said.
The lawsuit could be the biggest environmental action in state history. 3m said
in 2012 that it reserved $117 million for potential fluorochemical contamination
liability due to the state's environmental lawsuit.
Jim Hammerand
Digital editor
Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal
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