Active duty military soldiers are frequently exposed to very loud noises from things like explosives, artillery, gunfire and aircrafts. Without proper ear protection, regular exposure to these types of high-level noises can cause serious damage to the inter-ear and various levels of hearing loss.
Manufacturing company 3M was granted an exclusive contract to provide earplugs to the U.S. military from 2006 through 2015. 3M’s Dual-Ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) were expected to protect the hearing of troops and became standard issue for the military during that time period. According to a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2016 by Modex-Metric, 3M put troops in danger by delivering earplugs the company knew were defective and provided no hearing protection at all. The suit also alleged that 3M violated the False Claims Act by falsifying earplug test results in order to meet U.S. military standards required win the exclusive contract. In July 2018, 3M paid the Department of Defense $9.1 million to settle the whistle blower suit without admitting liability.
After the settlement, 3M did not recall the defective earplugs but simply chose to discontinue sales. Some estimates toll the number of injured victims at over 100,000.
After court documents from the Modex-Metric settlement became public, hundreds of veterans filed lawsuits against 3M alleging the earplugs were defective, resulting in full or partial hearing loss and tinnitus, commonly known as ringing in the ears. On April 3, 2019 many of these suits were consolidated into a federal court Multi-District Litigation (MDL 2885) in the Northern District of Florida before Judge M. Casey Rodgers. The lawsuits accuse 3M of knowingly committing fraud against the U.S. military, failing to warn the military and soldiers of the earplug defects and falsifying earplug test results to meet the military’s standards.
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The dual end design of the 3M combat earplug was touted as unique and innovative claiming soldiers could use the green end to protect against all sound while the yellow end could be inserted to dampen the sound of explosions but allowed soldiers to hear quieter noises such as spoken commands or approaching enemies.
The stem of the earplugs was too short for the earplug to be inserted deep enough into the ear canal to obtain proper fit. The defect caused the earplug to loosen unbeknownst to the user. As the earplugs loosened, they failed to provide proper hearing protection. Aearo Technologies, the original manufacturer apparently knew about the defect as early as 2000, years before it won the exclusive contract to provide earplugs to the military.
