If you served in the military between 20, you may have been issued defective 3M combat arms earplugs. In April 2022, a judge blasted 3M over its motionto require MDL plaintiffs to pay immediate filing fees, calling the move moot and “hard to divine.”Īlthough these earplugs have since been discontinued, the 3M combat arms earplugs were standard issue equipment for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan between 20 and may have harmed thousands of service members. In late 2021, 3M was ordered to pay $22.5 million to an Army veteran, including $7.5 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages.Ī Florida federal judge has ordered an acceleration of bellwether trials and other cases in the MDL due to an “ unprecedented backlog” of cases, per Law360. This large award is divided between the two plaintiffs, each awarded $15 million in compensatory damages and $40 million in punitive damages due to tinnitus and hearing loss they say was caused by using the earplugs.
3m peltor combat arms earplugs trial#
When several bellwether lawsuits went to trial in April 2021, the jury found 3M liable for hearing damage, and awarded each of three plaintiffs $2.1 million in punitive damages.Īs of 2022, 3M is on a losing streak in its defective earplug litigation, having paid out $1.7 million in damages in once recent bellwether case, and $110 million in another case - the largest yet in the bellwether trials. military are currently involved in litigation against 3M over its allegedly defective earplugs. More than 200,000 current and former members of the U.S. Under the terms of the settlement, 3M has not admitted any guilt. According to the investigation, the manufacturer of the earplugs may have known about problems with the product as early as 2002, selling defective earplugs for 13 years, affecting a huge number of service members. 3M military earplugs lawsuitsģM agreed to a $9.1 million settlement in July 2018 to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act and knew about the defective nature of its products at the time of the sale to the U.S. After the investigation, the Department of Justice then filed its own claims against 3M, claiming that the company violated the False Claims Act and argued that 3M did know that the earplugs were defective but sold them anyway. Department of Justice into the Dual-Ended Combat Arms Earplugs. This lawsuit precipitated an investigation into the issue by the U.S. 3M’s competitor claimed that 3M knew that their earplugs failed to pass the safety tests knowingly sold the military defective earplugs, which violated military safety contracts. The Star Tribune goes on to report that Moldex also claimed that the 3M earplugs failed to pass certain safety tests. So, service members allegedly continued to wear the earplugs in their loosened, less-effective state, which caused hearing loss. Because the loosening was subtle, service members were allegedly in many cases unaware that anything was wrong and that their earplugs were too loose.
Moldex-Metric claimed that the earplug’s short length caused them to “loosen imperceptibly” during use, says the Star Tribune. That lawsuit reportedly came on the heels of a bit of a lawsuit back-and-forth between the two companies. reportedly filed a whistleblower lawsuit against 3M over the issue, per the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In 2016, the earplug maker Moldex-Metric Inc. The problem of the 3M earplug defect was reportedly brought to the attention of the government because of a whistleblower lawsuit. How was the 3M earplug problem discovered? Tinnitus may also result in numerous side effects, including fatigue, stress, sleeping problems, trouble concentrating, memory problems, depression, or anxiety. They may be present constantly or be intermittent. These sounds may vary between a high and low pitch. The types of phantom noises caused by tinnitus include ringing, buzzing, humming, roaring, hissing, or clicking sounds. Although tinnitus is a symptom of an underlying hearing condition, rather than being its own condition, it can be frustrating, distracting, or even debilitating to sufferers. Tinnitus is the perception of noise or ringing in the ears, according to the Mayo Clinic. These loud noises may cause permanent hearing loss or deafness.Īlong with the risk of hearing loss or deafness, defective earplugs may also increase the risk of developing tinnitus. During combat and training, military service members may be exposed to dangerous levels of noise from gunfire, aircraft, tanks, heavy equipment, or roadside bombs. Dangers of defective military earplugsĭefective or ineffective earplugs may pose a number of dangers to the hearing health of military service members. Service members, however, may not have realized that even though they were wearing the earplugs, their ears were not properly protected.