Pair of 3M Military Earplug Test Trials Split on Liability (1)

3M Co. and its Aearo Technologies LLC subsidiary have received split federal jury verdicts in Florida on two service members’ claims that combat earplugs failed to protect their hearing, with the successful soldier obtaining an award of more than $12 million in punitive damages Monday.

A jury determined that active-duty U.S. Army Sergeant Guillermo Camarillorazo is owed $816,395 in compensatory damages and $12.2 million in punitive damages, according to his attorneys.

The two latest trials are the first to proceed under jurists other than Judge M. Casey Rodgers, who oversees the massive consolidated litigation over Aearo Combat Arms version 2 ...