A lawsuit has been filed against 3M Company over hearing damage allegedly incurred by military personnel and civilians due to 3M’s Combat Arms earplugs. The suit claims the company failed to warn about the importance of properly inserting the earplugs, and as a result,  the plaintiffs claim they developed hearing loss and tinnitus.

The complaint was filed in Minnesota’s District Court for the Fourth Judicial District in Hennepin County.

What Are Combat Arms Earplugs Used For?

According to Bloomberg Government, 3M Combat Arms earplugs are used by the military to protect soldiers’ hearing during training and combat. The earplugs are dual-ended, meaning they can be used to block out different levels of noise. One end is meant to block all sound while the other is intended to muffle loud noises while allowing the user to hear commands.

Earplugs are an essential form of protection for military personnel. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), continual exposure to loud noises can cause stress, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, heart disease, and other health problems. Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that hearing loss itself can lead to significant health risks including atrophy of the brain. These risks make the proper function of combat arms earplugs even more important.

Are 3M Combat Arms Earplugs Defective?

On June 9, nine plaintiffs —  two police officers, two civilian contractors, a firefighter, aircraft technician, truck driver, mechanical instructor, and canine handler — filed a joint product liability action against 3M. Each plaintiff denies having received instructions for the proper insertion of 3M combat arms earplugs and each claims to suffer from some form of hearing loss or tinnitus.

The plaintiffs say that 3M’s earplugs are too short for some people and failed to properly seal at times. 3M denies that its combat arms earplugs are defective or cause injuries. However, this isn’t the first time 3M has been accused of manufacturing defective earplugs.

In 2018, 3M paid $9.1 million to settle a dispute with the federal government over the first version of Combat Arms earplugs. The government claimed that 3M knowingly sold its earplugs to the military without disclosing the defects hampering the earplugs’ protection. Furthermore, a draft of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 written by the House Armed Services Committee stated that “combat earplugs have had significant issues related to performance and quality control in the past that likely resulted in hearing loss to military personnel.” This language was not included in the final version.

Failure to Warn

The key allegation against 3M is that it failed to warn military personnel about the dangers posed by improperly inserting Combat Arms earplugs. Due to 3M’s failure to warn, the plaintiffs developed hearing loss and tinnitus or ringing in the ears, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege that 3M knew that the earplugs “needed to be inserted in a particular manner in order to have any effectiveness.” The plaintiffs claim that 3M failed to notify purchasers of the dangers posed by failing to properly insert their combat arms earplugs.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $50,000, but Bloomberg reports that 3M’s liability is unclear in this case. Each plaintiff will need to prove that Combat Arms earplugs caused their hearing problems. Due to the number of plaintiffs, 3M could potentially be on the hook for a large payout.

Should You File a Combat Arms Earplugs Lawsuit?

Bloomberg notes that these nine 3M earplug plaintiffs are joining what is expected to become the biggest mass tort lawsuit in the country.

According to the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, roughly 140,000 claims regarding 3M earplugs have been filed or are in the process of being filed. When the individual cases were consolidated last April, there were already 11,000 plaintiffs filing claims regarding this issue.

If you used 3M combat arms earplugs while in training or on duty with the military or police, you may be eligible to join a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer.