December 2024 - 3M Earplugs End of Year Update
We hope this update finds you well and cheerfully looking forward to the holiday season. This correspondence is intended to update you about the 3M earplug litigation.
The 3M earplug litigation was resolved after many years of hard-fought litigation. For the majority of our clients who selected the Expedited Pay option you should have already received your settlement funds. For some Expedited Pay clients, the funds are still being processed by the claims administrator and we anticipate payment in 2025.
For our clients that qualified for the Deferred Payment plan, initial payments will be made in the near future. However, the majority of your recovery will not be made available until later in 2025 as the program continues to evaluate and process these more unique claims.
Your legal team at ELG thanks you for the opportunity to represent you in this matter. If you have any questions, feel free to call our office.? Please note that our office will be closed for the holidays from December 20th through January 2nd, 2025, while someone will be answering the phone, our regular staff will not be available. Please be patient as we return to the office and we will respond to your calls or emails as quickly as possible.
We wish you a healthy and happy holiday season and look forward to an exciting year in 2025!
March 2023 – 3M fights a growing legal battle over defective combat earplugs
Over 200,000 service members and veterans are suing the 3M company for having provided them with defective combat earplugs, whose use can result in hearing loss or tinnitus. From 2003 to 2015, Aearo Technologies and 3M manufactured and supplied the U.S. military with the Combat Arms CAEv2 earplugs. The earplugs were given to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq and were designed to protect their hearing during military training and combat.
Eric Rucker, one of 3M’s attorneys, said that the company has a lot of respect for the men and women in the military and that their safety has always come first. “The purpose of the creation of [the Combat Arms earplugs] was to collaborate with the military to solve one of the longest-standing problems they have had, that soldiers won’t wear their hearing protection around loud noises and in combat,” Rucker said.
The lawsuits filed by over 200,000 service members and veterans have been consolidated in Florida federal court, creating perhaps the largest mass tort in U.S. history, surpassing the multidistrict litigation concerning Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder. So far, 3M has lost 10 of the 16 cases that have gone to trial, with $265 million awarded to 13 plaintiffs.
March 25, 2022 – a jury awards $50 million to U.S. Army veteran Luke Vilsmeyer
A U.S. Army veteran who sued 3M for hearing damage caused by its defective earplugs won $50 million in court on March 25, 2022. The jury awarded Luke Vilsmeyer a $50 million verdict, which is the second-largest amount a veteran has won in a series of lawsuits against the company. "It is clear 3M's defenses - whether in the courts, to investors, or the public - are unconvincing and without merit," lawyers representing plaintiffs in these cases said in a statement.
January 27, 2022 – two U.S. Army veterans receive $110 million in 3M earplugs lawsuit
At the moment, roughly 3,000 people are involved in lawsuits accusing 3M of having sold the U.S. military defective earplugs that caused service members to develop tinnitus and hearing loss. On January 27, a federal jury awarded $110 million to two U.S. Army veterans who claimed they came to struggle with hearing damage due to having used the combat earplugs manufactured by 3M.
This is the latest decision in hundreds of thousands of lawsuits that accuse 3M of knowingly selling defective earplugs to the military. "While they are certainly pleased with the verdict and happy that the jury saw through the defenses that 3M tried to put forth, they have to go back to their lives living with these permanent conditions that simply will never go away and will only get worse," the attorney representing the two veterans said about the case.
December 14, 2021 – 3M hit with $22.5 million verdict in U.S. military earplug trial
A federal jury awarded $22.5 million to U.S. Army veteran Theodore Finley, who alleged that combat earplugs sold by 3M caused him hearing loss and tinnitus. The man, who used the earplugs while serving in the military from 2006 to 2014, was awarded $7.5 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages. The verdict surpassed the $13 million jurors awarded a U.S. Army sergeant the previous month.
November 15, 2021 – jury awards $13 million in another 3M earplug lawsuit
A jury in Tallahassee, Florida, awarded $13 million to a U.S. Army sergeant who claimed he experienced hearing damage as a result of using the earplugs manufactured by 3M. The verdict for Guillermo Camarillorazo includes $800,000 in compensatory damages and $12.25 million in punitive damages.
October 1, 2021 – U.S. Army veteran awarded $8.2 million in trial over 3M earplugs
A federal jury awarded $8.2 million to U.S. Army veteran Brandon Adkins in a lawsuit against 3M that claimed the company's earplugs he had used during his military service damaged his hearing. "We are humbled by the bravery and courage shown by service members like Brandon Adkins not only for their service to our country but also for standing up against 3M on behalf of all the veterans who now face preventable hearing loss and tinnitus as a result of the earplugs," said the veteran's attorney.
This is the fourth trial against the company 3M concerning earplugs that are sold to the military. The 3M Combat Arms earplugs were used during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 250,000 cases have been filed against the company so far.
July 19, 2021 – a U.S. Army veteran who used the defective 3M earplugs is awarded $1.7 million
Lloyd Baker, a U.S. Army veteran who claimed he had used the ineffective earplugs made by 3M, was awarded $1.7 million in damages for his hearing loss and tinnitus by a federal jury in Florida. The jury split liability on Lloyd Baker's failure to warn claim between the parties, finding 3M 62% liable and Lloyd Baker 38%. Baker, like three veterans who collectively won about $7 million in the first trial, prevailed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
April 30, 2021 – $7.1 million awarded to U.S. veteran in the first 3M earplugs bellwether trial
In the first bellwether trial to be held in the 3M earplugs multidistrict litigation, a Pensacola jury awarded $7.1 million to 3 former service members who claimed the company's defective earplugs irreversibly damaged their hearing. The plaintiffs, Stephen Hacker, Luke Estes, and Lewis Keefer, alleged that the earplugs supplied to the military by 3M and its predecessor, Aearo LLC, were defective and failed to protect them from tinnitus and hearing loss that stem from training and noise on the battlefield.
July 26, 2018 – 3M agrees to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations concerning defective earplugs
The Department of Justice announced on July 26, 2018, that 3M had agreed to pay $9.1 million to solve the allegations that the company knowingly sold the dual-ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) to the U.S. military without disclosing defects that affected the effectiveness of the hearing protection device. "The Department of Justice is committed to protecting the men and women serving in the United States military from defective products and fraudulent conduct," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Chad A. Readler of the Department's Civil Division. "Government contractors who seek to profit at the expense of our military will face appropriate consequences," he added.
The settlement resolved the allegations that 3M violated the False Claims Act by selling defective earplugs to the Defense Logistics Agency. More specifically, the United States claimed that 3M and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, knew the CAEv2 was too short for proper insertion into the ear and that the earplugs could loosen, thereby failing to perform well for certain individuals. The allegations resolved by the settlement were brought in a lawsuit filed under the qui tam, also known as a whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. The act allows private parties to sue on behalf of the government when they believe defendants submitted false claims for government funds.
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