3M has faced over 600 veteran lawsuits over allegedly providing the military with defective earplugs that caused hearing loss and tinnitus. Now, one such class action lawsuit has revealed internal documents about why the defective earplugs made it through production and into the hands of service members. 

A judge has recently ordered that hundreds of court pages that contain internal documents be unsealed, and made public. These internal documents were included in a 3M earplugs class action lawsuit alleging that 3M was aware of the dangerous defects in some of its earplugs, but sold them anyway.

The Combat Arms Earplug, Version 2 were used by the military between 2003 and 2015, in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Stars and Stripes explains that in fielding complaints that the earplugs were too short to be properly inserted, and did not properly block sound, 3M had argued that they were not to blame. Instead the company claimed that the earplugs were designed with the military, to the government’s specifications. According to the company, all test results were shared with the military, even if the results indicated that the earplugs did not work as well as hoped.

However, newly revealed documents that contradict this argument, say the service members in their 3M class action lawsuit. Allegedly, internal documents showed that the company was fully aware of the defect in the earplugs. ABC’s 3 WearTV reported on the new documents, saying that the documents reflected that a regional sales manager for 3M “didn’t think soldiers needed to know that the earplugs they were using were 90 percent less protective than what was represented by 3M.”

The earplugs were reportedly made by Aero Technologies, a company owned by 3M. WearTV goes on to say that an Aero executive answered “Yes” when asked if it was “okay to sell a product and conceal information where it will have a negative effect on our soldiers.”

Was the military aware of the defect?

The service members suggest that the military was not similarly aware. They claim that the company showed test results to the military that appeared as if the earplugs worked as intended, but in reality, those test results were done with a modification to the earplug. Stars and Stripes says that service members allege that 3M was not told that the modification used in the test results was needed for the earplugs to work effectively. In contrast, 3M allegedly told the military that the modification was not needed for every wearer, but only for users who had large ear canals.

Stars and Stripes goes on to say that court documents indicated that the length of the earplugs was reduced so that the earplugs would fit into their carrying case. 

The court documents reportedly also give insight into the significance of the earplugs on 3M’s financial health. The earplugs represented 20 percent of the company’s operating income (the total amount of profit after operating expenses are subtracted) and a total of five percent of the revenue from the U.S. hearing protection business (profit before any expenses are subtracted), according to Stars and Stripes. 

Reportedly, this boon to the company was possible partly because the earplugs could be made cheaply and sold at a high profit; while the earplugs were made at a cost of 85 cents, they were sold at $7.63, says Stars and Stripes.

Despite the company’s continued protestations that the earplugs are not defective and were not responsible for service members’ hearing loss, the debacle has already cost the company almost $10 million, and counting. In 2018, 3M agreed to settle the earplug defect allegations for $9.1 million. The largest award of $22.5 million was awarded in 2021.

Service members are also now filing lawsuits against the company, in the form of class action lawsuits, a mass tort and individual lawsuits. Among the over 635 veteran lawsuits, some have been moved from state to federal court, explains the StarTribune.

3M attempted to file for bankruptcy through its subsidiary Aearo Technologies, the company that sold the earplugs to the military, in order to lessen the impact of 3M earplug litigation. However, a bankruptcy court denied this attempt in late August 2022.

While 3M’s losing streak continues, several new bellwether cases—”test cases” used in consolidated litigation—are scheduled to be tried together in early 2022.