3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litigation

Case Overview

On July 26, 2018, the United States Department of Justice announced that 3M Company had agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly sold Dual-Ended Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2 (CAEv2) to the United States military without disclosing a defect that hampered the effectiveness of the earplugs protecting the user’s hearing. You may review the Department of Justice announcement in the Case Documents section below.

The earplugs were designed (and color coded) to provide two different options for hearing protection depending upon which end was inserted into the ear canal. The green end acted as a traditional earplug and was to block out as much sound as possible. The yellow end was to reduce loud impulse sounds (like small arms fire, artillery, and explosions), but to let the user hear low level sounds such as verbal commands. The earplugs were sold to the military from 2003 to 2015 and were often standard issue in certain branches of the military. The earplugs have since been discontinued.

The allegations are that the earplugs contained a design flaw that prevented the earplugs from fitting snugly into the ear canal. As a result of this alleged defect, the users were exposed to dangerous levels of noise during training and combat operations. Military veterans say they’ve experienced permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, and other hearing-related issues because of this defective product.