3M hit with $149m fine over defective combat earplugs

WASHINGTON • A federal jury in the US has awarded US$110 million (S$149 million) to two Army veterans who said combat earplugs sold by 3M to the military caused them to suffer hearing damage. It is the largest verdict yet to result from hundreds of thousands of lawsuits over the product.

Jurors in Florida sided with US Army veterans Ronald Sloan and William Wayman, who alleged that 3M's Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2's design was defective, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Thursday.

The two men are among the nearly 300,000 service members and others who have sued 3M, claiming they suffered hearing damage as a result of using the earplugs in what has become the largest federal mass tort litigation in US history.

Mr Sloan and Mr Wayman were each awarded US$15 million in compensatory damages and US$40 million in punitive damages, the lawyers said.

Each won more than the previously largest verdict in the litigation of US$22.5 million. "Juries continue to find that 3M's earplugs were defective and that they are responsible for causing irreparable hearing damage to those who served our country," the plaintiffs' lawyers Bryan Aylstock, Shelley Hutson and Christopher Seeger said in a joint statement.

3M in a statement said it was disappointed and would appeal.

It noted it won the last two trials involving the earplugs and said its conduct was consistent with its "long-time commitment to keeping our US military safe".

Aearo Technologies, which 3M bought in 2008, developed the product. Plaintiffs allege the company hid flaws, fudged test results and failed to provide instructions for the proper use of the earplugs.

The trial was the 11th so far to reach a verdict. Plaintiffs in six trials, including Thursday's, have won more than US$160 million combined. Juries sided with 3M in the five others. Five more trials are scheduled this year.

REUTERS