3M Loses Combat Earplug Defect Trial in Last of Test Cases

A U.S. Army veteran who alleges he used ineffective earplugs made by 3M Co. and its subsidiary Aearo Technologies LLC was awarded $1.7 million in damages from the companies for his hearing loss and tinnitus, a federal jury in Florida decided Friday in the third and last case of a round of test trials.

The jury split liability on Lloyd Baker’s failure to warn claim between the parties, finding 3M 62 percent liable and Lloyd Baker 38 percent.

Baker, like three veterans who collectively won about $7 million in the first trial, prevailed in the U.S. District Court for the ...