[CoastalCoder]

I wonder - could a bankruptcy court simply transfer ownership of all 3M stock to the injured parties?

Seems to me that would make them as whole as possible, while retaining 3M's ability to manufacture other crucial products.

[BobbyJo]

That's effectively how bankruptcy works but with more paperwork. You take assets (whether it's the deeds to the equipment or ownership of the whole company via stock) and you give the value of that (in the form of money or assets) to the claimants.

Either way it's a transfer of wealth from the current business owners (stockholders) to claimants, just a matter of how that transfer happens.