A little over a year ago, a team representing 3M brought home a complete defense win from a federal jury in Pensacola, Florida, during the second bellwether trial in the massive multidistrict litigation claiming that the company’s dual-ended combat earplugs were defective and caused hearing damage to U.S. service members.

“To the external world, the odds were heavily against us, but our client and team believed in the merits of our case and defense,” a member of the defense team told us at the time after nabbing Litigator of the Week honors for the win. The lawyer went on to say: “A victory for 3M confirmed that 3M has meritorious defenses and can prevail in a jury system.”