A Pensacola jury has awarded $1.7 million to an Iraq War veteran who argued that he suffered hearing loss and tinnitus despite using 3M military earplugs during his Army service.
Both the plaintiff’s attorneys and defendant 3M saw at least some positive news coming out of the jury’s June 18 verdict in the third bellwether trial in the litigation over the 3M earplugs – which the law firm Seeger Weiss LLP describes as the largest consolidated mass tort in the nation’s history.
The company continues to stand by its 3M Combat Arms Earplugs version 2 (CAEv2), a product used by the U.S. Army from 1999 to 2015.
“3M believes the CAEv2 product is and always has been safe and effective to use, and on Friday, a jury agreed that the product was not defective,” a 3M statement emailed to the Florida Record says. “We are exploring our appellate options with respect to the remainder of the jury’s verdict. Friday’s outcome, as well as our win in the last bellwether trial, affirms our confidence in our case, and we will continue to defend ourselves in this litigation.”
The jury found 3M liable for 62 percent of plaintiff Lloyd Baker’s hearing loss – or about $1 million in damages. Seeger Weiss emphasized that jurors concluded that the company failed to issue adequate warnings about the use of the product, leading to the infantryman’s exposure to repeated instances of weapon impulse noises.
“3M knew and withheld material information concerning the safety of the Combat Arms earplug – a product that, unfortunately, was used by hundreds of thousands of service members, including Lloyd Baker,” David Buchanan, a lead co-counsel for the plaintiff, said in a prepared statement. “We’re pleased that the jury recognized 3M’s misconduct and the gravity of the injuries Lloyd was left with following his use of the Combat Arms earplug.”
Seeger Weiss also points out that plaintiffs have won four of the five military earplugs cases so far and two of three bellwether trials in the multidistrict litigation (MDL), which covers more than 250,000 claims by military veterans who argue the 3M product caused their hearing loss or tinnitus.
The first such bellwether trial on April 30 produced a jury award of $7.1 million for three plaintiffs, the law firm said in a statement.