January 4, 2026 - West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey's office has filed a new lawsuit against 3M Company, claiming 3M violated the state's Consumer Credit and Protection Act through the marketing of one style of its respirator masks to coal miners.

The lawsuit, according to court documents, joins one that has been underway for more than 20 years in Lincoln County regarding a different style of mask, also marketed to coal miners.

According to the lawsuit, 3M has advertised, marketed and sold its 8210 disposable respirator to coal miners in West Virginia, indicating on its website and the product's box that one of the uses for the mask is "coal" and one of the "recommended industries" is "mining."

The lawsuit said that, in 1977, 3M recognized internally about the 8710 — the respirator involved in the Lincoln County lawsuit — that it is "unacceptable in the underground mining area due to collapse and abuse from high heat and humidity."

In the lawsuit filed Dec. 22, the AG's office claims that an expert and former employee for 3M admitted that the two masks "perform similarly" regarding collapse in "high humidity environments."

The cup-shaped respirators, the AG's lawsuit said, "provide a dangerous illusion of safety."

The lawsuit said that at least the 1960s, 3M knew that, to protect coal miners against Coal Worker's Pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung, a respirator must have both an effective filter and a proper and consistent fit to protect the wearer against small harmful respirable particles that cause dangerous lung diseases.

3M, the lawsuit claims, knew the two masks had the same "fit defects," making them unsafe. Due to the valveless design of the two masks, the lawsuit said, the respirators cause hot and humid exhaled breath, and the humidity in the working environment increases the breathing resistance and the respirators to flex and potentially collapse.

Despite these flaws, the lawsuit claims, "3M misrepresented, suppressed, omitted and otherwise caused confusion and misunderstanding regarding the unsuitability of the 8210 for coal mining and the unreliability of the fit of the 8210."

In the new lawsuit, the AG's office is asking for a temporary injunction preventing 3M from advertising and selling the 8210 in West Virginia until the case is resolved or terminated. 

Further, the lawsuit asks that the court set a long-term schedule for a trial to determine civil penalties for 3M's "repeated and willful violation of the (consumer protection act) in relation to its sale, marketing and advertisement of its 8210 disposable respirator into West Virginia ..."

According to court documents, the new lawsuit, which was filed on Dec. 22, was moved from Kanawha Circuit Court to U.S. District Court in Charleston on Dec. 23.

The earlier lawsuit, according to court documents, is still in progress, with a trial that began in January 2025 and is scheduled to resume in March.