The Minneapolis headquartered 3M business made the Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs which were employed by armed services personnel during the period 2003 to 2015 during fighting and training exercises in order to protect soldier hearing from gunfire and explosions. Hearing problems are the most common issues suffered by veterans so ear defense is a serious worry for American soldiers. Based on various scenarios, the 3M Dual-Ended Combat Arms™ Earplugs were created to provide two different levels of protection. The dual-ended earplugs have a design that is easily noticeable. As their name implies, they were made of of two outward facing plugs, one green and one yellow.
While the yellow end was put into the ear, this was called as Open Fire mode. This level was created to provide normal hearing for top situational awareness. It could allow soldiers to communicate, receive commands and hear other important sounds in the battlefield while continuing to provide protection from top level sounds like gunfire and explosions. This could have been the desired mode in combat situations.
When the green part was placed inside the ear, this was referred to as Constant Protection mode. Constant Protection was created to stop all noise more completely in order to provide complete protection. According to 3M, the mode is for high level sustained sound scenarios such as those in tracked vehicles and air support. This level might have additionally been used in several standard training exercises and environments as well. Alleged Hearing Risks Combat Arms EarplugsManufactured by 3M and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc, Dual Ended Combat Arms Earplugs, Version 2 (CAEv2) that were created for military use and used extensively by thousands of personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq from 2003 to 2015. The CAEV2 was made to allow for two separate protection modes, Weapons Fire mode and Constant Protection mode. The applicable level is determined by which side of the earplug is placed inside the ear, yellow for Weapons Fire mode, green for Constant Protection mode. Weapons Fire mode is created to allow for hearing speech and communicating yet maintaining protection from damaging sound levels from gunfire and explosions. The Constant Protection level blocked all noise more completely which was useful for staff operating in track vehicles, in air support or while regular training. Each settings were purported to stop noise up to a specific level yet in current legal action, the government has claimed that neither mode of the ear plug complied with the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) which 3M claimed due to a non-reported manufacturing error.
$9.1 million Settlement Between 3M and the U.S. Government During July of 2018, the United States DOJ announced that 3M had agreed to pay $9.1 million in order to resolve claims that they knowingly sold the Combat Arms Earplugs v2 to the American military without admitting defects that hampered the effectiveness of the hearing defense device. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2016 under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act which allows private parties to sue for the federal government when they believe that a defendant has represented incorrect claims for government funds. In this case, the whistleblower was granted $1,911,000 for their part in the lawsuit.
Per the DOJ press release, the settlement resolved allegations that 3M violated the False Claims Act by selling or causing to be sold defective earplugs to the Defense Logistics Agency. Specifically, veteran hearing . alleged that 3M, and its predecessor, Aearo Technologies, Inc., knew the CAEv2 was too short for correct insertion into users’ ears and that the plugs might loosen imperceptibly and therefore didn’t perform well for some people. It was also alleged that this design defect was known to 3M but wasn’t relayed the Department of Defense.
Injuries to Personnel If the allegations against 3M are correct, many servicemen might have used error prone earplugs which didn’t protect them as the product was intended to. Based on the claimed design error, the earplugs could loosen while inside the ear unknown to the soldier allowing damaging sounds to make their way into the ear. Dangerous noise levels can have serious and lasting effects including partial or total hearing loss, or tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. Hearing damage is one of the most common issues suffered by active duty and former servicemen. Tinnitus, which might 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 needing medical care for chronic tinnitus.
You Could be Entitled to Compensation If you or a loved one were issued 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 case should be discussed with the Meneo Law Group to explore every option available to you.
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