It's hard to keep track of all the lawsuits 3M is dealing with and to judge whether the company can afford to pay the billions of dollars that litigants want.
It's even harder to know whether 3M can again be the engine of innovation that for decades made it Minnesota's most valuable company.
Companies hit with mass tort cases usually defend one harmful product, like Georgia-Pacific with asbestos or Bayer with glyphosates. But 3M confronts two lines of litigation: over harmful PFAS chemicals in products and the effectiveness of military-grade earplugs.
