On June 22, chemical manufacturing giant 3M Co. reached a settlement agreement with attorneys representing 300 cities, towns and public water systems across the country over claims that the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances found in the company’s products...
On August 26, Judge Jeffrey J. Graham of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana ruled that the bankruptcy of 3M’s subsidiary Aearo Technologies did not halt the earplug litigation cases pending against the parent company, and denied Aearo’s...
On August 10, President Biden signed into law the bipartisan Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act designed to expand Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits and health care for veterans exposed to...
At a July 27 hearing in Pensacola, FL, U.S. District Court Judge M. Casey Rodgers expressed concerns regarding 3M’s decision to resolve the more than 230,000 earplug litigation cases pending against it by putting its Aearo Technologies division into bankruptcy, in...
Two juries in separate bellwether cases found against 3M and subsidiary Aearo Technologies and in favor of former service members who claimed that they suffered hearing loss as a result of using 3M’s defective CAEv2 earplugs. Both cases were tried as part of the...
On December 10, a federal jury in Tallahassee, Florida awarded former U.S. Army veteran Theodore Finley $22.5 million, including $15 million in punitive damages, against earplug manufacturers 3M Co.and Aearo Technologies LLC. The plaintiff had alleged that as a result...
In an order filed on August 9, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida denied earplug manufacturer 3M’s motion for a new trial, stating that 3M and its predecessor Aearo, LLC, had failed to prove that it had been prejudiced in the first...
On May 28, a federal court jury in Pensacola, FL found 3M not liable after less than one day of deliberation in the second bellwether trial held in the Combat Arms Earplug Version 2 (CAEv2) multi-district litigation. The jury determined that 3M was not responsible...
On May 11, presiding Judge M. Casey Rodgers ruled against 3M by finding that one of its experts was not qualified to offer an opinion in the MDL bellwether case that was scheduled to begin trial on May 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of...
On April 30, in the first bellwether trial to be held in the 3M earplugs multidistrict litigation, a Pensacola jury awarded $7.1 million to three former service members who claimed the company’s defective earplugs irreparably damaged their hearing. The plaintiffs,...
