3M 2006 Annual Report Download - page 97

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which plaintiffs choose to assert specific dollar amounts in their complaints, brought in states that permit such pleading,
the amounts claimed are typically not meaniQJIXODVDQLQGLFDWRURIWKH&RPSDQ\¶Vpotential liability. This is because (a)
the amounts claimed typically bear no relation WRWKHH[WHQWRIWKHSODLQWLII¶VLQMXU\, if any; (b) the complaints nearly always
assert claims against multiple defendants with the typical complaint asserting claims against as few as a dozen different
defendants to upwards of 275 different defendants, the damages alleged are not attributed to individual defendants, and
DGHIHQGDQW¶VVKDUHRIOLDELOLW\PD\WXUQRQWKHODZRIMRLQWand several liability, which can vary by state, and by the
DPRXQWRIIDXOWDMXU\DOORFDWHVWRHDFKGHIHQGDQWLIDFDVHLVXOWLPDWHO\WULHGEHIRUHDMXry; (c) many cases are filed
against the Company even though the plaintiIIVGLGQRWXVHDQ\RIWKH&RPSDQ\¶Vproducts and, ultimately, are withdrawn
or dismissed without any payment; and (d) many cases are brought on behalf of plaintiffs who have not suffered any
PHGLFDOLQMXU\DQGXOWLPDWHO\DUHUHVRlved without any payment or a payment that is a small fraction of the damages
initially claimed. Of the 3,917 pending cases in which purported damage amounts are specified in the complaints, 2,207
cases involve claims of $100,000 or less (88 of them also allege punitive damages of $10,000, 16 of them also allege
punitive damages of $15,000, and three of them also allege punitive damages of $1,000,000); 168 cases involve
claims above $100,000 up to $3 million (45 of them also allege punitive damages of $250,000, 72 of them also allege
punitive damages of $350,000, one of them also alleges punitive damages of $1 million, 45 of them also allege
punitive damages of $1.5 million, and one of them also alleges punitive damages of $2 million); three cases involve
claims above $3 million but less than $7.5 million (two also allege punitive damages of $350,000 and one of them also
alleges punitive damages of $5 million); 31 cases involve claims of $7.5 million; five cases involve claims above
$7.5 million but less than $10 million (four of them also allege punitive damages of $21 million); 1,473 cases involve
claims of $10 million (1,405 of them also allege punitive damages of $10 million, and one of them also alleges punitive
damages of $15 million); 24 cases involved claims above $10 million but less than $50 million (two of them also allege
punitive damages of $350,000, two of them also allege punitive damages of $15 million, five of them also allege
punitive damages of $15.5 million, and four of them also allege punitive damages of $20 million); and six cases
involve claims of $50 million (five of them also allege punitive damages of $50 million). Some complaints allege that the
compensatory and punitive damages are at least the amounts specified. As stated, the &RPSDQ\¶VH[SHULHQFHDQGWKH
other reasons cited indicate that the damage amounts specified in complaints are not a meaningful factor in any
assessment of the Company¶VSRWHQWLDOOLDELOLW\
As previously reported, the State of West Virginia, through its Attorney General, filed a complaint in 2003 against the
Company and two other manufacturers of respiratory protection products in the Circuit Court of Lincoln County, West
Virginia and amended it in 2005. The amended complaint seeks substantial, but unspecified, compensatory damages
primarily for reimbursement of the costs allegedly incurrHGE\WKH6WDWHIRUZRUNHU¶VFRPSHQVDWLRQDQGKHDOWKFDUH
benefits provided to all workers with occupational pneumoconiosis, including current or former miners allegedly suffering
from silicosis and/or coalPLQHU¶VSQHXPRFRQLRVLV³%ODFN/XQJGLVHDVH´DQGXQVSHFLILHGpunitive damages.
Employment Litigation
As previously reported, one current and one former employee of the Company filed a purported class action in the District
Court of Ramsey County, Minnesota in December 2004, seeking to represent a class of all current and certain former
salaried employees employed by 3M in Minnesota below a certain salary grade who were age 46 or older at any time
during the applicable period to be determined by the Court. The complaint alleges the plaintiffs suffered various forms of
employment discrimination on the basis ofDJHLQYLRODWLRQRIWKH0LQQHVRWD+XPDQ5LJKWV$FWDQGVHHNVLQMXQFWLYHUHOLHI
unspecified compensatory (up to triple actual damages) and punitive damages in excess of $50,000, including back and
IURQWSD\DQGDWWRUQH\V¶IHHV,Q-DQXDU\WKHSODLQWLIIVILOHGDPRWLRQWRMRLQIRXUDGGLWLRQDOQDPHGSODLQWLIIV7KLV
motion was unopposed by the Company and tKHIRXUSODLQWLIIVZHUHMRLQHGLQWKHFDVHDOWKRXJKRQHFODLPKDVEHHQ
dismissed following an individual settlement.
A similar age discrimination purported class action was filed against the Company in November 2005 in the Superior
&RXUWRI(VVH[&RXQW\1HZ-HUVH\RQEHKDOIRIDFODVVRI1HZ-HUVH\EDVHGHPSOoyees of the Company. The
Company removed this case to the United States District Court for WKH'LVWULFWRI1HZ-HUVH\,QDGGLWLRQWKUHHIRUPHU
employees filed age discrimination charges against the Company with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission and the pertinent state agencies in Texas, Minnesota and California, during 2005. Such filings include
allegations that the release of claims signed by certain former employees in the purported class defined in the charges is
LQYDOLGIRUYDULRXVUHDVRQV,QRQHFXUUHQWHPSOR\HHfiled an age discrimination charge against the Company with
the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the pertinent state agency in Missouri, asserting claims on
behalf of a class of all current and certain former salaried employees who worked in Missouri and other states other than
0LQQHVRWDDQG1HZ-HUVH\7KHVDPHODZILUPUHSUHVHQWVWhe plaintiffs and claimants in each of these proceedings.
Environmental Matters and Litigation
7KH&RPSDQ\¶VRSHUDWLRQVDUHVXEMHFWWR environmental laws and regulations including those pertaining to air emissions,
wastewater discharges, toxic substances, and the handling and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes enforceable by
national, state and local authorities around the world, and private parties in the United States and abroad. These laws
and regulations provide, under certain circumstances, a basis for the remediation ofFRQWDPLQDWLRQDQGIRUSHUVRQDOLQMXU\
and property damage claims. The Company has incurred, and will continue to incur, costs and capital expenditures in