3M's Government Contractor Defense Motion Rejected

3M's Government Contractor Defense Motion Rejected

Introduction

U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers, presiding over all 3M earplugs lawsuits, issued an order last Friday, rejecting the manufacturer’s government contractor defense motion.

Motions for summary judgment were filed by both the parties asking the court to provide a ruling on whether the manufacturer should be allowed to claim immunity from design defect and failure-to-warn claims. 3M Company, through its motion, invoked the government contractor defense, which would protect them from state-law product liability claims arising out of compliance with the federal government contract.

The manufacturer also argued that the claims were pre-empted by federal law because the Combat Arms earplugs were designed to military specifications. However, Judge Rodgers agreed over the plaintiffs' argument that the manufacturer could not meet the bar for defense contractor immunity. The order also noted that there was no evidence showing the participation of the military in discretionary design decisions for the earplugs, which opposes the argument that they were designed as per specific military standards.

Last month, Judge Rodgers issued a pretrial order indicating that the first 3M earplugs bellwether case will go to trial on April 5, 2021.

Currently, more than 150,000 claims are filed by veterans, each raising similar allegations that the hearing loss injuries were caused by defective 3M earplugs that were standard issue by the military between 2003 and 2015. The lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2885 in the Northern District of Florida.

Earlier, 3M pleaded to reject the claims from nationwide military veterans over its defective earplugs lawsuits considering the “government contractor defense.” The company faces lawsuits from more than 140,000 army veterans who claim that a defective design of the earplugs resulted in them suffering hearing loss, tinnitus, and other injuries.

The spokesperson for the company said that it distributed the earplugs according to the guidelines provided by the military and relied on the “government contractor defense.” Whereas the jury representing the veterans argued that the company's plea cannot be accepted as it is blaming the military for being careless.