3M Should Be Blocked From Health Care Spinoff, Suit Argues (1)

3M Co. should be blocked from spinning off its health care business and paying shareholder dividends in order to preserve money that soldiers suing the industrial conglomerate expect to win, according to a new federal lawsuit.

A group of soldiers who claim faulty 3M earplugs damaged their hearing want a judge to ensure that the company has enough assets to pay tens of billions of dollars in judgments it could lose in the future. The company faces more than 200,000 lawsuits from veterans who used the earplugs.

The complaint, filed in Pensacola, Florida, accuses 3M of trying to protect valuable …