3m Defective Earplugs Legal News Articles & Interviews

Santa Clara, CA As part of its $6 billion faulty combat earplug settlement, 3M began sending payments last month to military veterans who suffered hearing loss and other significant injuries. The payments will resolve about 300,000 lawsuits claiming the manufacturing company knowingly sold defective earplugs that caused hearing loss and tinnitus. Those affected are mainly US military who were in training and combat from 2003 to 2015.

Pensacola, FL A group of 3M’s Aearo Technologies’ attorneys have taken issue with the U.S. Trustee’s objection to their motion seeking more than $7 million in fees in the 3M combat arms earplug lawsuit settlement of more than $6 billion. Without their "substantial contribution" to the dismissal of the Aearo bankruptcy case, the attorneys said in an Indiana bankruptcy court, 3M would never have reached a settlement for about 240,000 people who filed defective earplug complaints. And wouldn’t you know it – on the heels of this settlement comes an identity theft scam targeting veterans.

Santa Clara, CA 3M announced in August that it reached a $6 billion settlement over defective earplug lawsuits brought by thousands of veterans and military service members who have suffered hearing damage. From 2003 to 2105 the military used the earplugs to protect them from combat noise, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. 3M earplug lawsuits—which grew into the largest mass tort litigation in U.S. history—claim that the chemical giant knew during those years that their earplugs were defective and they hid design flaws, skewed test results and neglected to provide instructions for the proper use of the earplugs.

Santa Clara, CA  A federal judge in the 3M defective earplugs MDL is not buying into 3M’s interpretation of medical testing records recently produced by the Department of Defense. 3M hired an economic consulting firm to analyze the DOD data to ensure the company a positive outcome, rather like insurance companies hiring their own medical experts to deny disability benefits.

Santa Clara, CA 3M’s move to shift liability for military earplug injury lawsuits by placing its Aearo Technologies subsidiary into bankruptcy seems to have backfired. A federal judge has described the move as “bad faith tactics” and an “abuse of the litigation process”.

Santa Clara, CA A group of veterans have filed a motion to allow hearing loss lawsuits to move forward. They want the stay on all 3M earplug lawsuits lifted, arguing that 3M is responsible for design flaws because they used the company’s earplugs after it acquired Aearo Technologies – which initially developed the Combat Arms Earplugs version 2 (CAEv2) -- in 2008, and before 3M placed its Aearo subsidiary into bankruptcy.

Pensacola, FL  A Florida federal judge in October denied 3M a new trial after a jury awarded $50 million to veteran Luke Vilsmeyer. Like more than 280,000 veterans, Vilsmeyer claimed that 3M’s CAEv2 earplugs were defective and caused his tinnitus and hearing loss. The judge ruled that the trial evidence “substantially supported” the verdict.   

Pensacola, FL In the third 3M earplug bellwether trial a federal jury determined that the company failed to provide adequate safety warnings about their combat arms earplugs. The plaintiff, veteran Lloyd Baker, was awarded $1.7 million.

Pensacola, FLThe second 3M earplug lawsuit ended with a win for the defense.  The Combat Arms Earplug manufacturer lost the first bellwether trial that ended with a $7.1 million win for veterans. Now, hundreds of thousands of victims with hearing loss allegedly from defective earplugs await the third and final trial on June 7th in Pensacola.

Pensacola, FL  The second bellwether case of three found a Florida jury siding with 3M Co., which is the company’s first win in federal court. 3M allegedly sold defective earplugs to veterans but claims in its defense that the military is responsible for the design and delivery of the earplugs. This trial involves an estimated 240,000 total service members, 3,349 of whom have filed lawsuits.