The government-contractor defense grew out of a U.S. It is because of the military input into the design of the earplugs that 3M has tried (unsuccessfully) to use the government-contractor defense to absolve the company from liability even if the earplugs are found to be defective. military to develop the design for the CAEv2 earplugs and incorporated features that were “requested and accepted” by people acting on behalf of the military. On its website, 3M states the CAEv2 earplugs are a “ significant innovation in hearing protection,” and the company defends the safety and effectiveness of its product.ģM says it worked in “close coordination” with the U.S. When the federal court system became aware of the number of 3M earplug cases being filed it ordered the MDL process to consolidate the cases under one federal court judge who will preside over the pretrial phase of the litigation.Īn advantage of an MDL settlement over a class action settlement is that each MDL plaintiff will receive a portion of the settlement proceeds that is based on individual circumstances.ģM has argued the CAEv2 earplugs are not defective by design and only fail to work when they are not worn properly. Although allegedly caused by a single product produced by a single company, the plaintiffs didn’t all claim the same injuries. The 3M earplug lawsuit began as individual lawsuits. They are typically handled by a single law firm and any amount recovered is split equally among all plaintiffs without regard to individual circumstances. A class action lawsuit is one lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of plaintiffs who have all suffered the same injury. When people think of a large number of people hurt by a single product made by a single company they think of a class action lawsuit. The 3M earplug MDL is the largest in US history. There have been so many lawsuits filed with similar complaints that the suits were centralized under a Florida district court as an MDL in 2019 so they could be processed more efficiently and to reduce cost and duplication. There are currently more than 230,000 military service members or veterans suing 3M. In 2018, 3M agreed to pay $9.1 million to the Department of Justice to resolve the allegations without admitting liability.Īfter the settlement with the federal government, individual service members began filing lawsuits against 3M alleging they wore the defective earplugs that caused them to develop hearing loss and/or tinnitus. The lawsuit claimed the defective earplugs were likely responsible for significant hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing or other noise in the ear) experienced by thousands of soldiers.
In 2016, Moldex-Metric, Inc., a California-based competitor, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against 3M claiming that 3M had been selling defective earplugs, knowing that they did not meet the standards for protection required by the government. Production of the earplugs ceased in 2015 without recall. They were standard issue in Iraq and Afghanistan for soldiers deployed during those years. and parent 3M Company manufactured and supplied the United States military with Combat Arms earplugs to protect the service members’ ears from the loud sounds associated with military training and combat.
0 kommentar(er)
