This case was settled by a settlement of $9.1 million. With the potential to become one of the biggest trials in recent history, social media has exploded with information and misinformation about the case. There are 9 more Bellwether trials that will take place over the next 5 months in the 3M earplug litigation. Round 8 will show the case of Theodore Finley v. 3M Co., et al., (7:20-cv-170) and is expected to begin Monday after Thanksgiving. After a short break in December, two more simultaneous Bellwether trials will begin on January 10, 2022. The admission took the form of an agreement to pay $9.1 million to the U.S. Department of Justice to settle allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by knowingly selling its defective earplugs to the U.S. military. That`s bad enough, isn`t it? But these demands continue. They claimed that internal tests revealing these promises were not true.
But they buried this information that put users` ears at risk. As a result, too many of our active soldiers suffered from significant hearing loss and tinnitus. How many? As of October 15, 2021, 272,381 lawsuits against 3M earplugs were pending in the MDL class action lawsuit. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of military personnel used Combat Arms earplugs on both ends almost daily. Military personnel assumed that foam earplugs protected their ears from the harmful effects of heavy noise pollution. But reducing the noise of these earplugs was not what our soldiers could rightly expect. Recently, there has been talk that lawsuits against 3M regarding Combat Arms earplugs could be excluded under the Feres preemption doctrine. 3M said in a Florida federal court that it would enforce the „defense of federal government contractors“ and the „defense of combat activities.“ You may only have a limited time to make your claim against 3m.
Please call the Bryant Law Center if you have any questions about your earplug trial, or to begin your free consultation by filling out the form on this page. This lawsuit is not intended to split the $9.1 million, but each member of the service affected by the earplugs has their own individual case against 3M. This is the case of the 3M earplug trial, which damaged the hearing of thousands of soldiers. Although the matter has since been settled, you may be entitled to compensation for your hearing loss. Defective 3M earplugs are a big problem for veterans and soldiers. These earplugs were issued to troops in the Iraq War, the Gulf War and the War in Afghanistan. Earplugs have been found to be defective because they do not offer sufficient protection against noise pollution. There is good evidence for claimants in these cases.
In testifying, one plaintiff`s lawyer asked Martin Salon, a former vice president of Aearo Technologies, because he felt it was appropriate for 3M to hide information from the government about possible earplug deficiencies. His response was, „I guess that`s when the product works in most cases. The same witness also said it was acceptable to „sell a product and hide information where it will have a negative impact on our soldiers.“ Can you imagine? „The studies have begun and now it`s time to investigate your 3M earplug allegation. We would be happy to help you if we can. In addition, each person`s injuries can vary and although they are similar, they will not all have the same injuries or damage. All separate lawsuits are combined into one large mass damages lawsuit. The reaction of the first jury is bad news for 3M. While the company is not guaranteed to lose all of the remaining cases, the fact that the jury deemed it appropriate to judge punitive damages should frighten 3M`s management. Perhaps they want to talk about the regulation now.
With more and more 3M earplug lawsuits on trial, the possibility of a deal is approaching. Right now, there isn`t enough priority to estimate what that number of settlements would be, but given the number of military personnel with hearing problems (and other issues related to their hearing problems) after using 3M Combat Arms, it would likely be millions of dollars. The defective 3M combat earplugs that caused the hearing damage and tinnitus were issued to U.S. military personnel to soldiers in both combat zones and during training from 2003 to 2015. .