About 30,000 veterans and active-duty service men and women have agreed to a payout by 3M in a settlement of a lawsuit over hearing damage from allegedly faulty earplugs, the Star Tribune reported.
More than 276,000 veterans and active duty service members brought the suit, saying the Combat Arms earplugs, made by 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies and sold to the military from 1999 to 2015, failed to protect the users from hearing damage when in loud environments.
3M, which acquired Aearo in 2008, maintained the earplugs were safe when used properly.
The acceptance of the settlement by the 30,000 veterans and service members is significant because a nearly unanimous level of acceptance is needed from the 276,000 claimants for the $6 billion settlement, announced last summer, to be valid, the Star Tribune reported.
The veterans and service members who agreed to the settlement will see payments begin by the end of the month. Those claimants have agreed not to go to trial, 3M confirmed in a news release this week.
Under the settlement, 3M will ultimately pay out $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in 3M common stock to claimants between 2023 and 2029. As part of that agreement, the company also issued $250 million in payments to roughly 30,000 claimants last December.
“We are pleased with 3M’s decision to move up this payment and appreciate its commitment to the resolution of these claims,” an attorney for the claimants, Bryan Aylstock, said Tuesday.
“So far, support for the settlement has been overwhelming and we expect to meet and indeed exceed the 98% participation threshold provided for in the settlement agreement in the coming weeks.”
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