Replies to post #26418 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[santafe2]

3M market cap trimmed by $7.76B today or $33,730 for each earplug lawsuit. With the PFOA lawsuits just ramping up it could be a long road for MMM. So much for Teflon being synonymous with untouchable. As I mentioned, I'm out of MMM as of last Friday. Unfortunate, this has been one of my favorite income investments.

[DewDiligence]

3M still_has_some shots-on-goal in_the earplug litigation…

As far as I know, 3M’s next step is to appeal the bankruptcy court’s decision in the Federal Circuit Court, where the case is heard by a 3-judge panel. I.e., 3M needs to convince 2 of the 3 Circuit Court judges to overturn the lower-court ruling.

If 3M fails to obtain a reversal of the lower-court ruling in the Circuit Court hearing, the company will presumably request an en banc rehearing of the case, where all 9 judges from the (regional) Federal Circuit Court hear the case. It takes 4 of the 9 judges to grant the request for an en banc rehearing and 5 of the 9 judges to prevail on the merits and overturn the lower-court ruling.

If 3M is unsuccessful in the Federal Circuit Court, the next step is to appeal to the USSC. At the USSC, it takes 4 of the 9 justices to grant certiorari and 5 of the 9 justices to prevail on the merits.

All told, I think 3M’s chances of overturning the lower-court ruling are 30-40%. The fact that there is a precedent for using the bankruptcy court to do what 3M is trying to do is helpful.