HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VETERANS SUFFERING FROM HEARING LOSS AND TINNITUS MAY BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION THROUGH CIVIL SUITS FOR DAMAGES RELATED TO THE 3M STANDARD ISSUE MILITARY EARPLUGS.
Aearo Technologies, Inc. originally designed the earplugs and knew the earplugs were defective. 3M bought Aearo Technologies in 2008 and hired Aearo Technologies employees to develop and test the defective Combat Earplugs.
The US Government signed a contract with 3M in 2006 for the purchase of 15,000 packages a year, with each package containing 50 pairs of earplugs. The US Government continued these annual purchases through 2015 when 3M discontinued the product. These earplugs were standard issue military earplugs, essentially given to every active duty soldier fighting in the following conflicts:
- The Iraq War
- War in Afghanistan
- War in North-West Pakistan (part of War on Terror)
- War in Somalia
- Operation Ocean Shield in the Indian Ocean
- American-led intervention in Libya (2011- part of Libyan Crisis)
- American-led intervention in Iraq (2014 – 2017)
- American-led Intervention in Syria (2014 to present)
- Yemeni Civil War (2015 to present)
- American Intervention in Libya (2015 to present)
Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and hearing lossare the No. 1 and No. 2 health conditions, respectively, among military veterans at VA medical centers. In 2017, there were 1.79 million disability compensation recipients for tinnitus and 1.16 million compensation recipients for hearing loss. Legal experts around the country are working to understand the issue and have suggested hundreds of thousands of veterans suffering from hearing loss and tinnitus may be entitled to compensation through civil suits for their damages related to the 3M standard issue military earplugs.
A whistleblower lawsuit was initiated by 3M’s competitor, Moldex-Metrics, in May 2016. The lawsuit alleged 3M knew their Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2 were not long enough for proper insertion into the ears of users. The government decided to intervene in the Moldex-Metric’s lawsuit when it found evidence 3M employees had been aware of flaws in the design of these earplugs for many years.
On July 26, 2018, an attorney for the District of South Carolina announced 3M agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations they knowingly sold defective combat arms earplugs to the United States military. In the settlement, the government specifically alleged 3M did not disclose the known design defectsto the military, and that test results were falsified so the government would believe the earplugs complied with mandatory safety requirements.
The settlement awarded goes to the government and the whistleblower. Military personnel injured due to the use of these defective earplugs are provided, by the government, medical care and supplies for their injury, but they will receive nothing from this settlement to compensate them for their life-altering injuries. In order to be compensated for any injuries, military personnel must file a civil lawsuit.
