3M Loses First of Many Earplug Lawsuits

A jury has awarded three veterans a total of $7.1 million after a case against 3M went to trial. At issue are earplugs.The Wall Street Journal first reported the resolution last week, when a Florida jury agreed with the plaintiffs who said that 3M failed to warn users of product defects relating to its earplugs.The earplugs in question are called Combat Arms, a product designed for soldiers that 3M actually acquired from another manufacturer in 2007. Unfortunately, they came with some baggage: a redesign in 2000 was the source of an alleged design flaw that the product carried, reportedly making it too short to fit properly.The plugs were used by the Armed Forces between 2003 and 2015, and because of the alleged design flaw, hundreds of thousands of veterans have claimed that they’ve experienced hearing loss or ringing in the ears and that Combat Arms are to blame.