Earplug features a special acoustical filter that lets lower level sound through with relatively little noise reduction for greater situational awareness, and provides increasing amount of peak noise reduction as sound levels increases above 110 dB. District Court, Northern District of Florida, No. Rocker switch is marked with ‘3M’ and ‘CAE’ for easy switching between Closed Mode and Open Mode. The case is In re 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litigation, U.S. Juries sided with 3M in the remaining six cases. Plaintiffs prevailed in 10 of the cases, most recently when a jury last week awarded a veteran $77.5 million, the largest verdict to a single person. Plaintiffs allege the company hid design flaws, fudged test results and failed to provide instructions for the proper use of the earplugs. 3M Combat Arms Earplugs in three size tips were designed to meet the demanding hearing protection needs of the armed forces. The verdict came in the 11th of 16 trials to result from the cases by more than 290,000 former and active military members who claim 3M's earplugs are defective and damaged their hearing.Īearo Technologies, which 3M bought in 2008, developed the product.

3M, represented by Mike Brock of Kirkland & Ellis, had no comment. Rodgers wrote that because the jury made such a finding in Wayman's case, the punitive damages award would be reduced to $14.5 million.Ī spokesperson for Wayman's lawyers, who include David Buchanan of Seeger Weiss and Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, had no immediate comment. While punitive damages in general cannot exceed actual damages under the law of Colorado, where Wayman resides, they can be increased upon a finding that a defendant 'engaged in bad faith conduct.' Wayman and another veteran, Ronald Sloan, were each in January awarded $15 million in compensatory damages and $40 million in punitive damages, marking one of the biggest jury awards to date in the largest federal mass tort ever.īut Rodgers said some of the $15 million compensatory damages awarded to Wayman were subject to a Colorado cap on non-economic damages, and as a result, he was entitled only to $7.2 million with prejudgment interest.

3m combat arms earplugs