Legal Advice

Jury Awards Veteran $1.7 Million in Third Trial Over Faulty 3M Earplugs

A Pensacola, Florida, federal jury has awarded $1.7 million in the third bellwether trial over 3M’s defective Combat Arms earplugs. Jurors found that 3M failed to provide adequate warnings for the earplugs, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers. From 2005 to 2012, 3M Combat Arms earplugs were standard issue safety equipment. Over that period of time, thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands of military personnel used the faulty earplugs, exposing their users to loud noise events. A design flaw rendered the earplugs mostly ineffective, but many earplug users never realized the problem, or only realized they weren’t working after permanent hearing damage...