Eight months after the 3M company agreed to pay the U.S. government $9.1 million to resolve allegations it knowingly sold the U.S. military defective earplugs, the first Connecticut lawsuit alleging the earplugs were unusable has been filed in federal court.

The latest product liability lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in the District of Connecticut on behalf of former Green Beret Jonathan Frew, maintains the 32-year-old West Hartford resident’s poor hearing is due solely to the alleged defective ear pieces.