Florida Federal Jury Sustains $1.7M 3M Lawsuit

Florida Federal Jury Sustains $1.7M 3M Lawsuit

Introduction

A service member's $1.7 million hearing loss settlement in 3M combat earplugs has been sustained by a federal jury in Florida by stating that the company is responsible for the plaintiff's hearing loss.

The jury announced that the company was 62% responsible for the service member's hearing loss whereas the plaintiff was at 38% fault for the same. The jury even notified that the company failed to warn the earplug users about the defect in the product.

The plaintiff of this trial, who was a former infantryman and M240 machine gun operator, said that while training at Fort Lewis in Washington state in 2005 and 2006, he experienced stifled hearing while using the earplugs. In 2009, he suffered from a hearing loss in both ears and tinnitus following the incident.

The plaintiff was about to head to a mission in Iraq post the training; hence, the training was held inside buildings to mimic the city environments that the troops would encounter during the mission. The mission would involve huge explosions and loud firing from advanced ammunition that forced the service members to use earplugs to deal with the situation.

A spokesperson for 3M responded by saying that the earplugs have always been safe and effective to use and even the jury agreed about it that helped the company to win the last bellwether trial. The company will explore more appellate options for the remaining jury verdict and the company will continue to defend its products.

It is the company's second loss in three rapid-fire bellwether trials. Around 235,000 service members have filed claims against the company with similar allegations that the earplugs were ineffective in combat environments resulting in hearing loss.

More than 640 injury lawsuits are centralized before Judge M. Casey Rodgers in the Northern District of Florida against Minnesota-based 3M as part of multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2885; In Re: 3M Combat Arms Earplug Litigation).