FOLLOW US

John C. Enochs of Morris Bart further told Law360 on Monday that the firm believed it did not violate the terms of the settlement or Louisiana law when its attorneys signed the documents with the explicit permission of its clients.

"Under Louisiana law, amanuensis signatures are valid, binding, and enforceable," he said in a statement. "While we appreciate that Louisiana law is very much unique from all 49 other states based upon its origins in the French Civil Code, Louisiana's laws are nonetheless entitled to the full faith and credit under Article 4, Section 1, of the United States Constitution. We are very pleased that we were able to work with opposing counsel to satisfactorily resolve the issue, which has been made moot pursuant to the court's order."

Brent Coon represented the 16th person whose signature 3M questioned. In this instance, attorney Brent Coon signed the document with his own name, reasoning that he had power of attorney on behalf of his client. Judge Rodgers considered the question of this plaintiff's release to be moot, since they had been dismissed from the case and were ineligible for the settlement.

Judge Rodgers said she also considered the larger matter to be moot since 3M has agreed to accept 14 new releases from Morris Bart, signed with "wet signatures" by its clients. She said she will set a deadline for the 15th person to file.

Still, the judge reminded the firms that they were outliers in this whole affair.

"This was obviously improper as part of the settlement program (as shown by the 337 firms that did it correctly), given that the releases contain waivers, agreements, representations, and [acknowledgments] that must be personally made by the claimant," she said. "Had the other 337 law firms done the same thing, this settlement program would have been over before it started."

Representatives for 3M and Brent Coon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The servicemembers are represented in the MDL by Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz PLLC, Clark Love & Hutson PLLC, and Seeger Weiss LLP, among others.

3M is represented by Kimberly Branscome, Jay Bhimani, Allison K. Ozurovich, Jonathan Tam, Matthew P. Steinberg and Craig J. Castiglia of Dechert LLP, and Charles F. Beall Jr. and Larry Hill of Moore Hill & Westmoreland PA.

The case is In re: 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litigation, case number 3:19-md-02885, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.