3M military earplugs have cost the company a bundle. 3M has a agreed to pay $6 billion to settle lawsuits over U.S. military earplugs. Settling the 3M earplug lawsuit on Monday, the company has agreed to pay $6.01 billion. This was to settle nearly 260,000 3M earplug lawsuits by current and former U.S. military service members. They say they suffered hearing loss from using the 3M military earplugs, according to a person familiar with the agreement.
The money from 3M earplug settlement will be paid out mostly over the next five years, as per resource. A 3M spokesperson and lawyers for the service members did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
3M earplug settlement
The 3M earplug settlement deal comes after a failed attempt by the company earlier this year to move the lawsuits. The 3M earplug lawsuit had grown into the largest mass tort litigation in U.S. history. For 3M military earplugs lawsuit it wanted to push it into bankruptcy court in the hope of limiting its liability.
3M earplug lawsuit
The 3M military earplugs (Combat Arms) were made by Aearo Technologies, a company 3M acquired in 2008. They were used by the U.S. military in training and combat from 2003 to 2015, including in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Plaintiffs in the 3M earplug lawsuit claim that the company hid design flaws, fudged test results and failed to provide instructions for the proper use of the earplugs, leading to hearing damage.
The 3M earplug lawsuits were consolidated before U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers in Pensacola, Florida federal court in 2019. At its height, the litigation accounted for about 30% of all federal court cases nationwide.
Aearo filing for bankruptcy backfired
Of 16 3M earplug lawsuits that have gone to trial, 3M has lost 10, with about $265 million being awarded in total to 13 plaintiffs as 3M earplug settlement.
Aearo filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, with 3M pledging $1 billion to fund its liabilities stemming from the 3M military earplugs lawsuits.
3M argued that the mass tort litigation was unfair because Rodgers had kept scientific evidence favorable to the company out of trials. Also, it allowed thousands of “unvetted” claims to swell the court’s docket.
However, a bankruptcy judge in June dismissed the bankruptcy, finding that Aearo was not in enough financial distress to justify it.
3M’s other settlements
Monday’s 3M earplug settlement comes just two months after 3M announced a tentative $10.3 billion deal with a host of U.S. public water systems. The deal is to resolve claims of water pollution by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, known as “forever chemicals.”
That agreement is not final, and 22 U.S. states and territories are seeking to block it, saying it does not adequately hold the company accountable.
Stock update
The shares had risen 5% on Monday on earlier reports that a 3M earplug settlement was imminent. Some analysts’ estimates of the company’s potential liability from the 3M military earplugs litigation had been as high as $10 billion.
