3M Claims No Hearing Loss Among Plaintiffs In Earplugs MDL

3M Claims No Hearing Loss Among Plaintiffs In Earplugs MDL

Introduction

According to 3M Co., documents from the United States Department of Defense for more than 175,000 plaintiffs reveal that the great majority of claimants in the Combat Arms earplug lawsuit have normal hearings under medically accepted criteria.

St. Paul, Minn.-based manufacturer of thousands of consumer and industrial products said an analysis of Pentagon audiometric data for claimants revealed that the vast majority of claimants did not have hearing loss according to standards set by leading medical and health organizations such as the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization.

Nevertheless, co-lead counsel for the service member and veteran plaintiffs claimed that 3M misrepresented Military statistics. According to the attorneys, the data shows that around 85% of plaintiffs suffer from hearing loss or tinnitus, and that of the 13 previous jury judgments in favor of plaintiffs, 11 would be declared unimpaired under the standards 3M is looking at, including those who wear hearing aids.

According to 3M, roughly a quarter of the plaintiffs with hearing impairment by either AMA or WHO criteria disclosed their condition in hearing tests before using the Combat Arms earplugs.

According to the report, the analysis does not take into account other causes of hearing loss that may have affected the percentage of service members with hearing loss, such as medical conditions unrelated to noise exposure, non-military noise exposure, hearing loss that predates a service member's use of Combat Arms earplugs, and injuries sustained while not wearing Combat Arms earplugs.

3M and Aearo said they will continue to defend their positions in the multi-district action and pursue their appeals if required. On May 1, oral arguments for the appeals of the initial bellwether trials, which involve legal and evidentiary problems, are scheduled.

3M has stated that their military earplugs are safe provided service members are properly trained on how to use them. The earplugs were originally manufactured by Aearo, but 3M purchased the firm in 2008. In the summer, 3M committed to pay for the settlement of claims mediated by Aearo in bankruptcy court.

Lawyers representing veterans suing 3M over its earplugs requested a federal judge in early February to dismiss Aearo's bankruptcy application, which would protect the industrial multinational from court hearings.