The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Thursday overturned a lower court decision upholding a securities fraud class action against 3M over its production of “forever chemicals.”

The order stems from allegations that 3M, the American corporation best known for products like Post-it Notes, Scotch Tape, and—most recently—N95 respirator masks, deceived potential purchasers of 3M securities by “engaging in a scheme to defund investors and issuing false and misleading statements to conceal the company’s exposure to legal liability associated with its most lucrative product offerings: man-made chemicals know as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”).” 3M shareholders brought the complaint in federal court in New Jersey in August 2019, asserting violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1935 and US Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.

PFAS are used in hundreds of products around the world including stain protectant, cookware, and aqueous firefighting foam. The chemicals’ strong molecular bonds that make them so effective are the same bonds which mean PFAS do not break down, earning them the “ominous nickname forever chemicals,” according to the suit.

3M, after denying lasting damage caused by PFAS, moved to have the case transferred to the District of Minnesota because 3M is headquartered in Minnesota. The plaintiffs opposed the transfer, arguing that “New Jersey has a significant local interest in deciding this case at home because 3M’s PFAS products ’caused acute harm to the citizens of New Jersey.'” The New Jersey court denied 3M’s request due to the “factor that relates to deciding local controversies at home.”

Thursday’s decision vacated the district court’s transfer denial. The court held that “on balance, the private and public interest factors favor transfer.” “In our view,” wrote the three-judge panel, “the district court clearly and indisputably erred by denying 3M’s transfer motion.”

The court cited the district court’s “incorrect [conclusion] that New Jersey has a strong local interest” because the case is a “securities class action aimed at redressing economic harm suffered by 3M’s investors,” not environmental harm in New Jersey. “Moreover, nothing about this case is ‘local’ to New Jersey. Respondents represent a class of 75,000 3M investors situated around the globe.” The court transferred the case to the District Court for the District of Minnesota in St. Paul.