3M, Service Members Allowed to Use Reports at Earplug Test Trial

Two government reports related to 3M Co.‘s combat earplugs, one potentially helpful to the company and one to service members who complain of hearing loss, may be used at an upcoming bellwether trial because they aren’t hearsay, a federal court in Florida ruled.

3M may present evidence from a government industrial hygienist’s report on the effectiveness of the company’s combat earplugs at the consolidated bellwether trial of three members of the military, Judge M. Casey Rodgers said Sunday for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

And the three plaintiffs may draw from a U.S. Army ...