Defendants Oppose Plaintiffs’ Efforts to Oust Bair Hugger MDL Magistrate Judge

MINNEAPOLIS — Defendants in the Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Devices Products MDL told a Minnesota federal judge that plaintiffs’ efforts to disqualify Magistrate Judge David Schultz should be rejected because they waited nearly 17 months after they learned that he owned defendant 3M Co.’s stock to seek his ouster on that ground.

In a July 11 objection filed before Judge Joan N. Ericksen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, defendants contend that plaintiffs’ motion is “fatally late” because “they have long known of the circumstances supposedly compelling Judge Schultz’s recusal.”

Plaintiffs also sought disqualification …