Articles Posted in Product Liability

The 12^th bellwether test trial in the continuing 3M earplugs litigation gets underway today in the case of Wilkerson v. 3M Co. (7:20-cv-00035).

The results in the first 11 test trials, which featured the claims of 14 individual plaintiffs, have been decidedly mixed, but the most recent trial grabbed national attention when a pair of plaintiffs were awarded $110 million.

The trial in the Wilkerson case that begins today marks the first case in “Trial Group D,” which will include 4 additional trials through the end of May. Trial Group D will end the opening phase of the earplug bellwether trials, after which things will get a lot more intense and complicated.

The very first bellwether trial in the 3M earplugs litigation featured the claims of 3 plaintiffs (Luke Estes, Stephen Hacker, and Lewis Keefer) and ended in a jury verdict awarding the 3 veterans a total of $7.1 million in damages for their alleged hearing loss. Ten more bellwether trials followed, with the most recent ending in a $110 million verdict for 2 plaintiffs.

Immediately following the first bellwether trial, 3M’s defense team vowed that they would fight the verdict on appeal. Last week, 3M’s attorneys filed their appellate brief laying out their argument for why the U.S Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit should overturn the verdict and accept a legal defense that would effectively halt the earplug litigation entirely.

3M’s Legal Arguments in a Nutshell

3M is defending over 280,000 cases alleging that its Combat Arms Earplugs caused military veterans to suffer hearing loss. The 3M earplug litigation is the largest mass tort ever, but until now it has drawn very little attention from investors and financial analysts. That might be about to change. Over the last few days, market analysts from JP Morgan and Morningstar have started to raise some concerns and cautioned that 3M’s earplug liability could potentially be massive.

Background of the 3M Earplug Litigation

For over a decade, 3M’s Combat Arms Earplugs were standard issue equipment for all U.S. Military service members.  The earplugs were supposed to protect soldiers from hearing loss from loud noises, but in 2018 3M settled a false claims lawsuit with the U.S. Government alleging that 3M knew that design defects in the earplugs made them ineffective.