Brent Coon law firm plays role in $6 billion national settlement over combat hearing protection

by Scott Lawrence

Fri, October 6th 2023

BEAUMONT — The Brent Coon and Associates law firm in Beaumont says it played a major role in a $6 billion national settlement over combat hearing protection, representing nearly 1,500 military veterans who suffer from tinnitus and hearing damage.

They sued 3M as part of a global $6 billion settlement linked to military veterans who suffer from tinnitus and hearing damage as a result of using the ear protection devices while in service during the years of 2003 to 2015.

The law firm says 3M was found guilty several times in early test cases of knowingly selling the protective devices to the U.S. government based on test results that were doctored by the company to meet specifications. As a result, soldiers in combat and other personnel were utilizing hearing protection devices that weren’t working properly, said Coon in a news release.

The litigation costs millions of dollars to prosecute to this conclusion and will resolve more than 200,000 cases filed across the country, according to Coon.

“Our law firm has taken great pride in representing our hard working and country serving military personnel in this lengthy litigation. I believe that what finally got 3M to the settlement table was the Master MDL Court’s willingness to set a large number of cases for trial with various Judges throughout the federal system. We worked a number of those test cases up and were ready to get them in front of the juries when 3M decided to throw in the towel. It was that type of pressure exerted by our firm and a number of other litigation firms around the country that undertook that assignment. We spent millions of dollars getting to this point but it has been worth every penny to do our part to make sure the men and women who served our country get compensated for what 3M did.”

The firm’s founder, Brent Coon, says he engaged 3M for decades over defective dust masks that caused thousands of industrial workers to contract asbestos related diseases.

The firm was lead counsel or assisting trial counsel in dozens of major cases over the decades around the country, including the BP Oil Spill, the TPC explosion, the ITC terminal fire, the GM defective switch litigation, and BP Texas City refinery explosion, and many others.

“Our goal as a public policy law firm, is to help anyone and everyone who needs a law firm with all the resources to take on the industry giants, and to make the situation better at the end of the day by taking the case facts to legislators and regulators to implement additional rules and regulations to reduce the risk of a repeat offense,” said Coon. “For all the complaints about government oversight, the reality is that most major companies don’t do a very good job at self-policing, and all too frequently make short sighted decisions that put higher profits today far ahead of safety and health considerations to their workforce and to the general public. Almost every incident I have been involved in was highly avoidable and trying to save money and cut corners was involved.”

SOURCE: https://kfdm.com/news/local/brent-coon-law-firm-plays-role-in-6-billion-national-settlement-over-combat-hearing-protection?fbclid=IwAR1rYEkWnQb47SVWYqF2HZpLeb0Xo5a_vxOpCRVslfD91uudyaQKwFPoEQI