Jury Returns Verdict for 3M Co. in Silica Case

ST. LOUIS - Jurors have returned a verdict in favor of 3M in a case brought against the company by a former GAF laborer who claimed he developed silicosis despite wearing 3M dust masks and respirators, HarrisMartin Publishing is reporting. Parker v. 3M Co., No. 05-1358 (E.D. Mo.).

The federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri took just three hours on July 13 to find that 3M was not liable for causing Dwight Parker's alleged silicosis, a court official in presiding Magistrate Judge Thomas C. Mummert III's chambers told HarrisMartin.

Parker claimed in a …