3M has agreed to pay $6 billion to resolve roughly 250,000 lawsuits for faulty combat earplugs
As per news reports on the internet, the manufacturing company supplied faulty combat-earplugs to the military that resulted in significant injuries, such as hearing loss.
In a release, 3M said the agreement is “not an admission of liability” and that the payout will come over several years and encompass $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in stock.
The earplugs were used by the US military in training and combat from 2003 to 2015.
Veterans accused 3M of selling defective earplugs that caused hearing loss and tinnitus, according to a 2021 Wall Street Journal report.
It looks like they were made by Aearo Technologies, a company 3M bought in 2008. Aearo tried filing for bankruptcy last year as a way to fund its liabilities and limit exposure. However, that was dismissed by a judge this summer because the judge said that “allowing an otherwise financially healthy debtor with no impending solvency issues to remain in bankruptcy … exceeds the boundaries of the court’s limited jurisdiction”.
