Updates

On July 29th, plaintiffs’ counsel in the litigation involving 3M’s Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2 (CAEv2) voluntarily dismissed the case they had selected to be tried in federal court in September. The Taylor case was dismissed with prejudice because it was found that the plaintiff’s hearing injury was unrelated to noise-induced hearing loss or 3M.

The case was dismissed because it was meritless – the facts simply did not support the named plaintiff’s claims. This development underscores that each case must be proven on its own facts, a very high standard to which each named plaintiff will be held by the Court.

Simply because a case is filed does not mean it has any merit. Large, multi-district litigations (MDLs), like this one, often see allegations that have no basis in fact simply to increase the number of claims against companies. Essentially, the number of claims in MDLs often reflects the breadth of advertising and recruitment campaigns waged by the plaintiffs’ bar, not the legal and factual merits of the case.

The challenges plaintiffs face going forward are clear from the current track record in the bellwether cases. Thus far, out of three trials, one jury has already agreed with our case in its entirety, and in the most recent trial, 3M won on four of the five claims asserted by the plaintiff, including that the product was not defectively designed. These verdicts and the issues that will be decided on appeal affirm our confidence in our case. We deny plaintiffs’ allegations and will continue to vigorously defend ourselves in all upcoming trials.