Jury Awards $8.2 Million to Injured Veteran in Fourth Bellwether Trial Against 3M

For the past two years, Ciresi Conlin attorneys Michael Sacchet and Megan Odom have worked on behalf of thousands of injured veterans in the multi-district litigation against 3M over its Combat Arms Earplugs. The veterans claim the defective earplugs failed to work as promised and caused them hearing loss and tinnitus. Thousands of cases are currently pending in the Northern District of Florida before Judge M. Casey Rodgers.

This spring, Sacchet and Odom participated in the first and third bellwether trial teams, where the juries awarded $7.1 million and $1.7 million, respectively. Last month, they participated in the fourth bellwether trial, which lasted two weeks and resulted in an $8.2 million verdict for Plaintiff Brandon Adkins. “It’s a great result for Brandon Adkins and it is a big verdict — the largest of any [3M earplug] trial to date,” Sacchet told the Star Tribune.

At trial, Sacchet examined key witnesses on both sides and Odom successfully opposed 3M’s motion for judgment as a matter of law. The jury found for Plaintiff Adkins on all counts and rejected all of 3M’s affirmative defenses.

There are six more bellwether trials set between now and the end of the year.

You can read more about the case from Reuters, the Star Tribune, and Law360.