In an order issued on September 10 by Judge Joan Ericksen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, design, manufacturing, negligence, and breach of warranty claims by an Ohio resident Nancy Axline against Bair Hugger warming device have been dismissed under Ohio Product Liability Act (OPLA). However, the Minnesota federal judge declined to dismiss claims alleging the violation of consumer protection statutes, stating that they were not barred by the OPLA.
Axline underwent a left total hip arthroplasty on April 21, 2009, during which 3M's Bair hugger warming blanket was used post which she developed devastating surgical site infections. Axline's case is scheduled to go for trial on December 3, 2018. More than 5,000 lawsuits filed against the warming blanket maker claim infection such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) as a hazardous side-effect. Similar cases are consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL 2666; In Re: Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Devices Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2666) in the District of Minnesota before U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen. 3M prevailed in the first trial against them in May 2018.
