Home Personal Injury Products Liability 3M Combat Arms Earplug Lawsuit Attorneys 3M Combat Arms Earplug Lawsuit Attorneys Thousands of veterans and current military service members may be entitled to receive financial compensation in the 3M earplug lawsuit for hearing loss and tinnitus caused by defective earplugs.
Our lawyers are handling 3M earplug lawsuits in all 50 states. If you have a potential claim, do not delay. Call us at 800-553-8082.
Before we get to the meat of what the 3M Combat Arms earplug lawsuits are about, our attorneys first get you updated on the latest news in the 3M earplug litigation.
3M EARPLUG LAWSUIT UPDATES: July 14, 2022: The question on everyone's minds is just how likely a 3M earplug settlement will be this weekend at the court-ordered settlement talks in Florida that will start tomorrow and go through the weekend.
Progress towards an earplug settlement is probably likely. But a global 3M earplug settlement after three days of negotiations seems unlikely. Earplug victims are frustrated with the pace of settlement. Understandably. A global 3M earplug settlement is not out of reach. But it is just not likely this weekend.
July 13, 2022: 3M filed a brief asking the court to extinguish judgments in the nine cases they lost. Why 3M's lawyers bother with this motion is anyone's guess. Judge Rodgers stuck the motion as improper, chastising 3M that the court docket is not a repository "for lawyers to preview future litigation strategies."
July 11, 2022: The one thing we do not want to do in a 3M earplug settlement is minimize the differences between the strength of the claims in the final settlement amounts. The fear of this kind of damage averaging is larger claims will get settlement offers that undervalues their claims.
This creates a problem not only for those more seriously injured but also for 3M. Why? If the best cases do not receive settlement offers commensurate with the harm done to them, those plaintiffs will just reject the settlement amounts offered and opt to go to trial.
The point of all of this is that lawyers have to measure twice and cut once before any 3M earplug settlement.
July 8, 2022: 3M wants to weed out every 3M earplug lawsuit that is not a viable claim. Judge Rodgers is helping their efforts. Judge Rodgers granted a defense motion requiring plaintiffs who have not complied with court orders to produce basic information to show cause why their case should not be dismissed.
This sounds like a bad thing. It is not. If you have a solid claim, you support this, too. We want to get rid of the claims that are not meritorious because that will facilitate a 3M earplug settlement that makes sense for all parties.
July 5, 2022: Settlement talks are now just 10 days away. Our 3M earplug lawyers have not used these updates as a "call us" plug. But in the event there is a settlement, there is a chance it will be very hard to find a lawyer after a settlement is reached. So if you are sitting on the sidelines and have not brought a 3M earplug lawsuit but are considering it, now is the time to act. I don't think there are many of you out there who have not yet brought a lawsuit. But if you have not yet spoken to a lawyer about your case, now is the time. You can call us at 800-553-8082 or reach out online for a free consultation.
June 29, 2022: Plaintiffs Luke Estes, Lewis Keefer, Stephen Hacker, and Lloyd Baker filed their response to 3M's 11th Circuit appeal this week. The battleground is the government contractor defense our earplug lawyers talked about from Day 1 of this litigation. Plaintiff's lawyers contend in this brief and throughout this litigation that 3M is not a government contractor entitled to protection under the Feres Doctrine. This is because 3M did not give precise specifications or even have a real contract with the military to provide these earplugs. There will be a hearing before a ruling. Our lawyers believe 3M has a very small chance of winning this appeal. Hopefully, 3M offers reasonable settlement amounts to these plaintiffs and thousands next month more before a ruling is needed.
June 28, 2022: On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal released a story entitled 3M Faces Billions in Liabilities Over $7.63 Earplugs. The WSJ article provides a brief explanation of the massive size of the 3M earplug lawsuit and how it could end up costing 3M billions. The article was prompted by news of the recent mandatory settlement mediation ordered by the MDL class action judge.
The WSJ story is very significant because it marks the first time that one of the big major news outlets has brought attention to just how big of a hit 3M could take over the earplug lawsuits. Despite being the biggest consolidated mass tort in U.S. history, the 3M earplugs litigation and its implications on Fortune 500 companies have gone relatively unnoticed by the general public. 3M has benefited from this anonymity by avoiding external pressure from investors. This WSJ article signals the end of the era and, hopefully, keeps the pressure on 3M going into settlement negotiations.
June 17, 2022: Judge Rogers ordered in-person settlement negotiations on July 15, 2022. These settlement discussions must last at least three days. Judge Rogers issued the order in the hopes of forcing 3M lawyers on both sides to “engage in serious and good-faith efforts to resolve as many cases as possible.” To help push the settlement negotiations, Judge Rogers appointed Randi S. Ellis as special master for the mediation. Ms. Ellis will also be assisted by retired judge Mark Falk and veteran settlement negotiator Ellen Reisman.
Judge Rogers made it clear in her order that full or partial settlement of the earplug cases is critically important otherwise the federal court system will be flooded with earplug trials next year. The order notes that there are now 233,883 plaintiffs in the Earplugs MDL (down from a high of 282,902). If no settlement is reached in these earplug lawsuits, these cases will be sent back to their home districts for trial in waves of 500 cases at a time.
Our lawyers are constantly asked when will the 3M earplug lawsuit settle? These court-ordered settlement talks are the brightest glimmer of hope we have had for veterans to get reasonable settlement amounts in the foreseeable future.
June 1, 2022: Last week, a new case management order selected the next wave of 500 3M earplug lawsuits that lawyers must begin to prepare for trial. So that is not 1,500 lawsuits that need to be worked up to get ready for trial. This order puts 3M under great pressure and alleviates pressure all at the same time. 3M's lawyers will be under great pressure to prepare this many lawsuits for trial. It is a Herculean task for the attorneys.
But settlement pressure-wise, the sobering reality of this order is that there will not be another 3M earplug trial in 2022. So if 3M chooses to kick the can down the road, it can pay a reasonable settlement amount for the cases on appeal to avoid a final ruling and drag this out into 2023.
Our lawyers do not think this will happen. We think the 3M earplug class action will settle in 2022. But that is just a guess and a hope.
May 31, 2022: As expected, Judge Rodgers cut the verdict in Wayman from $55 million to $21.7 million The reason for the reduction is simply limits on punitive damage awards under Colorado law.
May 20, 2022: $77.5 Million Verdict! The final 3M earplug bellwether trial concluded this afternoon and the result was the largest amount awarded to a single plaintiff so far. After a 2-week trial, the federal jury in Pensacola awarded Army veteran James Beal a total of $77.5 million in damages for his claims that 3M’s defective earplugs caused hearing loss and tinnitus. This award brings the total amount of damages in the bellwether trials to $300 million.