Federal court dismisses bellwether case

3M continued its string of victories in the litigation involving the 3M™ Bair Hugger™ warming system, when a federal district court dismissed a bellwether case, Axline v. 3M, on December 21.

As a result, plaintiffs’ attorneys now have withdrawn, or courts have dismissed, a total of ten bellwether cases, which initially were selected to be representative of the other cases in the multidistrict litigation (MDL).

Indeed, over the five years since Bair Hugger lawsuits were first filed, 3M has not lost a single case. More than 580 lawsuits brought against the Bair Hugger warming system have been dismissed so far. The only case to make it to trial resulted in a swift jury verdict for 3M.

Every one of these lawsuits is based on a campaign orchestrated by a 3M competitor with a track record of misrepresenting facts and an actual conviction for fraud. There is no proof the Bair Hugger system causes infections. In August 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that healthcare providers continue using warming devices, including forced-air devices such as the Bair Hugger system, for surgery when clinically warranted.

The Bair Hugger system has been safely used more than 300 million times in the past 30 years and continues to be used on thousands of patients each day.