3M Combat Arms Earplugs

WE REPRESENT INJURED CLIENTS ON CONTINGENCY – YOU DO NOT PAY UNLESS WE WIN.

What the Lawsuit is About

3M’s dual ended earplugs were given to service members during combat between 2003 and 2015 and they failed to protect soldiers’ hearing. As a result, many thousands of soldiers may have suffered significant hearing loss and ringing in the ears (tinnitus). If you have experienced hearing loss or tinnitus after use of the 3M Combat Arms earplugs from 2002 to 2016, please contact us using the form on this page or call the phone number 213-212-2022.

If you wore the earplugs and now have any hearing loss or tinnitus, you may qualify to be represented on a contingency basis, which means you do not pay unless we win your case. , please contact us using the form on this page or call the phone number 213-212-2022.

The Problem with the Earplugs

These earplugs have dangerous problems that can cause them to loosen in the wearer’s ear and allowing damaging sounds to enter the ear canal by traveling around the outside of the earplug while the user incorrectly believes that the earplug is working. This problem has caused thousands to lose hearing and experience ringing in the ears. If you have experienced hearing loss or ringing in the ears after use of the 3M Combat Arms earplugs, please contact us using the form on this page or call the phone number 213-212-2022.

The History

3M provided earplugs to the military for a long time before agreeing to pay a settlement for their mistakes. But this lawsuit was only the beginning of the lawsuits 3M will face. In the settlement last year, on July 26, 2018, 3M agreed to pay $9.1 million to settle claims that it gave U.S. service members earplugs that it knew were defective. 3M Company and its predecessor company, Aearo Technologies, sold dual-ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) to the Department of Defense, despite allegedly knowing that the plugs were “too short for proper insertion into users’ ears and that the earplugs could loosen imperceptibly,” according to the Department of Justice statement.

We will seek to hold 3M responsible to service members who suffered injury, including hearing loss and tinnitus. 3M will fact many lawsuits in a mass tort multi-district litigation (MDL) and must answer to a judge about their actions.

We would like to help you hold 3M responsible. If you have experienced hearing loss or tinnitus after use of the 3M Combat Arms earplugs from 2002 to 2016, please contact us using the form on this page or call the phone number 213-212-2022.

$9,100,000 – 3M Payout July 26, 2018

See the complaint in the first lawsuit against 3M here

How the Earplugs Failed

3M’s dual-ended Combat Arms earplugs were designed to provide soldiers with a single set of earplugs that offer two options for hearing attenuation depending upon how the plugs are worn. If worn in the “closed” or “blocked” position (olive end in), the earplugs are supposed to block sounds like traditional earplugs. If worn in the “open” or “unblocked” position (yellow end in), the earplugs are supposed to block, or at least significantly reduce, loud impulse sounds of battlefield explosions, while still allowing the wearer to hear quiet noises such as commands spoken by fellow soldiers and approaching enemy combatants. These earplugs were originally created by a company called Aearo Technologies (“Aearo”). 3M acquired Aearo in 2008 and hired the employees at Aearo that developed and tested the defective earplugs. These 3M employees were aware of the defects as early as 2000, several years before 3M/Aearo became the exclusive provider of the earplugs to the military.