Kyle Farrar Earns ‘Attorney of the Year’ Honor for Work in Bair Hugger Product Liability MDL

Trial lawyer Kyle Farrar has been honored among Minnesota Lawyer magazine’s Attorneys of the Year for his role in litigation on behalf of thousands of individuals who have suffered injuries and medical complications after using the 3M Bair Hugger surgical blanket.

Mr. Farrar, who serves on the steering committee in the Bair Hugger multidistrict litigation consolidated in Minnesota federal court, is honored for work that resulted in a key appellate ruling from the 8^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which found that a lower court judge had abused her discretion when she excluded plaintiffs’ medical and engineering experts before granting summary judgment to 3M. The August 2021 ruling by the 8^th Circuit means 3M Company must face more than 6,000 hip and knee infection lawsuits linked to the surgical blankets, with potentially thousands more cases expected to be filed.

The blankets, manufactured by Minnesota-based 3M, are used during surgery to prevent hypothermia. Each unit includes a warming unit that pumps air through a hose, filling a blanket which covers the patient. According to the lawsuits, the Bair Hugger device causes periprosthetic joint infections during surgery due to the air currents it creates, which have been shown to spread dirt, dust, and bacteria from the floor of the operating room to the site of the surgery, where sanitary conditions are critically important.

Mr. Farrar, a name partner in Kaster, Lynch, Farrar & Ball, is a nationally respected trial lawyer who has earned record verdicts and settlements on behalf of individuals injured by dangerous and defective products. In addition to medical and pharmaceutical product liability litigation, he and the lawyers at the firm have prevailed in injury litigation against some of the world’s largest automotive and tire manufacturers.

In addition to Mr. Farrar, the successful Bair Hugger appellate team honored by Minnesota Lawyer magazine included Genevieve Zimmerman of Meshbesher & Spence; Mike Sacchet, Leslie O’Leary and Megan Odom of Ciresi Conlin; Gabriel Assaad of McDonald Worley; and Jake Zimmerman of the Zimmerman Firm. Click here to read more about the honor.