The 3M board of directors approved a $6 billion settlement for its defective earplugs that damaged the hearing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military and veterans.
Attorney Bryan Aylstock, whose firm, Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, tried several of the cases in federal court in Pensacola announced the settlement on WCOA this morning. Aylstock is plaintiffs’ lead counsel.
“It’s a historic settlement. It represents one of the largest mass tort settlements in American history, and I’m proud to do what we did on behalf of the thousands of service men and women who returned home with these life-altering hearing injuries, hearing loss, and tinnitus because of these defective earplugs manufactured by 3M,” said Aylstock “We were able to hold them accountable and hold them responsible.”
“Over 240,000 individual cases have been transferred here to the Federal District Court in Pensacola, they’re being overseen by Judge Casey Rogers right here. We were able to do 16 separate trials. And in those trials, we showed the jury 3M’s net worth because that was relevant for punitive damages, which a lot of the juries awarded. This settlement represents approximately one-half of 3M’s actual net worth. The fact that we’re able to extract that much out of them on behalf of our veterans is, it makes me very proud.”
Levin Papantonio Rafferty worked with Aylstock Witkin. LPR shareholder and liaison counsel for the plaintiffs Brian Barr tried and won the first 3M case in Pensacola with Bryan Aylstock.
His firm issued this announcement:
Court-appointed lead plaintiffs’ counsel in the 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2885) today secured a landmark $6.01 billion settlement with 3M Company and subsidiary Aearo Technologies on behalf of current and former servicemembers and civilians who suffered hearing damage while using 3M’s Combat Arms Earplug version 2 (CAEv2) and other dual-ended non-linear earplugs.
This settlement comes after more than four years of litigation against 3M, including 16 bellwether trials. The master settlement agreement covers the claims of all plaintiffs in MDL No. 2885 and Minnesota state court. The lawsuits alleged that from 1999 to 2015, 3M knowingly marketed, manufactured, and sold defective CAEv2 earplugs to the United States Military and consumers, resulting in tens of thousands of people to suffer from hearing loss and tinnitus.
Upon registration, each claimant will be given the option to enroll in a payment program based on their specific needs and proof of hearing damage. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has confirmed that no veteran will lose health or disability benefits, or have their disability rating adversely adjusted, directly as a result of participating in the settlement, and no VA facility will be able to recover or subrogate any portion of a plaintiff’s award. It is anticipated that Judge M. Casey Rodgers of the Northern District of Florida, who is overseeing the MDL, will hold a hearing on the settlement, which will have an independent administrator and be overseen by a Special Master appointed by the court.
More information about the settlement will be available at www.3mearplugmdl.com.
