3M Owes Army Veteran $50 Million to Compensate for Hearing Loss

A $50 million jury verdict against 3M Co.—the largest compensatory damages award to date in bellwether trials over the company’s combat earplugs—came down in favor of a U.S. Army veteran Friday in a federal court in Florida.

Luke Vilsmeyer’s was the 12th test trial in the massive consolidated litigation over subsidiary Aearo Technologies LLC’s Combat Arms version 2 earplugs in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Jury verdicts now stand at seven for service members and five for 3M, which has an appeal pending on key issues.

Attorneys for the the service members said the ...