3M Dual-Ended Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2 (CAEv2) have been linked with tinnitus and hearing loss.
The earplugs were too short to be properly inserted, causing the earplugs to become loose in the ear canal. This caused the earplugs to be unable to properly block out noise.
If you or a loved one served between 2003 and 2015 and have been diagnosed with hearing loss or tinnitus, call us today for a free consultation or send us a text from this page. We will represent you on a contingency fee basis, meaning we will not charge you a fee until and unless we win your case.
3M Military Earplug Lawsuit Latest News And Updates
- In May 2023, Judge Casey Rodgers ordered the CEO of 3M, Mike Roman, to attend mediation sessions. The sessions are intended to settle lawsuits against 3M over their military earplugs, which are allegedly defective. Rodgers wrote that Roman must attend the media sessions “so that his reports to the board of directors regarding the potential for global resolution of these cases are properly informed by firsthand knowledge.” 3M faces over 200,000 lawsuits over the earplugs.
- On May 2, 2023, Judge Casey Rogers ordered negotiations to be reinstated in the MDL regarding 3M earplugs. Discussions had been paused between 3M and plaintiffs in January. The negotiations had been declared at an “impasse.” Plaintiffs filed lawsuits against 3M over combat earplugs produced by 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies which allegedly caused hearing damage in thousands of veterans. 10 of the 16 bellwether trials on the docket were won by plaintiffs. Following this, 3M tried multiple times to claim bankruptcy, unsuccessfully. 13 plaintiffs have been awarded $265 million in damages. Over 2,500 more claims are awaiting settlement.
- In April 2023, a Florida judge was asked by veterans to reinstate mediation with 3M regarding litigation over claims that 3M’s earplugs had a defect and gave service members tinnitus and hearing loss. The veterans said their lawyers’ leadership recently requested a global deal regarding the lawsuits.
- In March 2023, Judge Casey Rodgers, who is overseeing the 3M earplugs multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of Florida, referred to the methods 3M used to test their earplugs as “problematic.” Judge Rodgers noted that 3M’s testing excluded the frequencies of 4,000 and 6,000 Hz, the frequencies that noise most commonly affects, and included the frequencies of 500 and 1,000 Hz, frequencies which are not commonly affected by noise.
- In February 2023, a group representing over 200,000 combat veterans filed a motion to dismiss a bankruptcy filing by 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies. The motion argued that 3M is not in financial distress and that Aearo can access 3M funding, making the bankruptcy filing invalid.
- In January 2023, Judge Casey Rodgers declared negotiations over a settlement in the 3M earplugs MDL at an impasse, terminating further talks which were ordered by the court. This was seen as an indication that bankruptcy, the MDL and numerous appeals would proceed.
- In January 2023, it was reported that 3M has been spending around $4.7 million per week in connection with litigation over its earplugs, and that the litigation might eventually cost the company up to $7 billion.
- In December 2022, Judge Casey Rodgers barred 3M from claiming it can’t be held independently responsible for earplugs designed by its subsidiary Aearo Technologies. Rodgers referred to this strategy as “a brazen abuse of the litigation process.”
- In August 2022, it was reported that 3M was facing over 230,000 lawsuits over its defective earplugs, and that the 3M earplug cases represented a massive 30 percent of all cases which were pending in federal courts.
