3m Defective Earplugs Legal News Articles & Interviews

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.

Pensacola, FL On October 20, the District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued a pre-trial order setting the requirements for the medical examinations of five service members who allege that they suffered hearing loss because of the 3M defective earplugs that were standard military issue from 2003 to 2015. The Order sets out a schedule, defines the scope of permitted testing and permits a non-lawyer representative of plaintiffs’ counsel, such as a paralegal or a law firm staff person, to attend.

Pensacola, FL Attorney Bryan Aylstock and his law firm is representing over 10,000 current and former U.S. military service members who have suffered hearing loss and tinnitus allegedly caused by 3M defective military earplugs. “We hold 3M accountable for what they did to our military brothers and sisters and what they did not tell them,” says Aylstock.

Pensacola, FL A federal judge ruled in July that 3M ‘s defective earplug excuse cannot invoke the “government contractor defense,” which was key to 3M. The company has used this reasoning because it protects contractors from tort liability for defects in products designed and developed for the federal government, and 3M claimed its combat arms earplugs were designed in close collaboration with the military. Now that 3M is no longer immune to this defense, bellweather discovery is underway.