The Minnesota headquartered 3M company manufactured the Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs which were employed by military staff from the years 2003 to 2015 during combat and training exercises to guard personnel hearing from gunfire and explosions. Hearing problems are the most frequent issues suffered by soldiers so ear protection is a serious concern for American soldiers. Based on various scenarios, the 3M Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs were created to provide two different levels of defense. The dual-ended plugs have a design that is easily recognizable. As their name suggests, they were made of of two outward facing earplugs, one green and one yellow.
While the yellow end was put inside the ear, this is called as Open Fire mode. This level was designed to provide normal hearing for top situational alertness. It could let soldiers to communicate, accept commands and listen to other important noises on the battlefield while still providing defense from peak level sounds like gunfire and explosions. This could have been the desired level in combat situations.
When the green part was placed inside the ear, this was known as Constant Protection mode. Constant Protection was designed to stop all noise more thoroughly in order to provide complete defense. According to 3M, the mode is for high level sustained sound situations such as those in tracked vehicles and air support. This mode may have also been used in many standard training exercises and environments as well. Alleged Hearing Issues Combat Arms EarplugsManufactured by 3M and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc, Dual Ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) that were created for military usage and used widely by thousands of personnel sent to Afghanistan and Iraq between 2003 to 2015. The CAEV2 was designed to allow for two separate protection modes, Weapons Fire mode and Constant Protection mode. The applicable setting is determined by which part of the plug is inserted into the ear, yellow for Weapons Fire mode, green means Constant Protection mode. Weapons Fire mode is designed to allow for hearing speech and communicating yet still protecting from damaging noise levels from gunfire and explosions. The Constant Protection level blocked all noise more fully that was useful for personnel operating in track vehicles, in air support or while regular training. combat earplugs were purported to block noise up to a specific standard but in recent litigation, the government has alleged that neither mode of the ear plug met the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) that 3M claimed because of an unreported manufacturing error.
$9.1 million Settlement Between 3M and the U.S. Government During July of 2018, the United States Department of Justice reported that 3M had agreed to pay $9.1 million to resolve claims that the company knowingly sold the Combat Arms Earplugs v2 to the U.S. military without admitting defects that declined the effectiveness of the hearing defense device. The lawsuit was originally placed in 2016 under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act that permits private citizens to sue for the federal government when they believe that a defendant has represented incorrect claims for government funds. In this issue, the whistleblower was awarded $1,911,000 for their part in the lawsuit.
According to the Department of Justice press release, the settlement took care of claims that 3M violated the False Claims Act by marketing or causing to be sold defective earplugs to the Defense Logistics Agency. More specifically, the United States claimed that 3M, and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc., knew the CAEv2 was too short for correct insertion into users’ ears and that the earplugs might loosen imperceptibly and then didn’t perform well for certain individuals. It’s also alleged that this design defect was known to 3M but was not shared with the Department of Defense.
Harm to Soldiers If the allegations against 3M are true, thousands of personnel could have used faulty plugs which didn’t protect them as the product was intended to. Based on the alleged design flaw, the plugs may come loose while inside the ear unknown to the soldier letting damaging noise to find their way inside the ear. Dangerous noise levels may have serious and permanent effects including partial or total hearing loss, or tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. Hearing damage is one of the most frequent issues suffered by active duty and former service personnel. Tinnitus, which may be debilitating, is just as frequent. According to a research scientist with the VA Portland Healthcare System, last year there were over 1.6 million veterans looking for medical care for chronic tinnitus.
You Could be Entitled for Compensation If you or a family member were provided Dual-Ended Combat Arms Earplugs during service in the military from 2003 and 2015, and have since had partial or total hearing loss or suffer from tinnitus, your scenario should be reviewed with the Meneo Law Group to explore every option available to you.
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