3M Will Pay $6 Billion Over Defective Military Earplugs

Manufacturing giant 3M said it reached a $6 billion settlement Tuesday agreeing to resolve some 300,000 lawsuits that allege the company supplied defective earplugs to the military that left some with serious injuries, including hearing loss—marking the second pricey lawsuit for the chemical company this summer.

The agreement means 3M will resolve some 300,00 lawsuits that allege the company supplied defective ... [+] earplugs to the military.

Over the next several years, 3M will pay $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in stock to those who have filed suit, and Thursday’s agreement will result in a $4.2 billion pre-tax charge for the third quarter of 2023.

3M explicitly said the agreement is “not an admission of liability,” and that the products in question “are safe and effective when used properly.”

The earplugs—made by Aearo Technologies, a company 3M bought in 2008—were used by the U.S. military from 2003 to 2015, in an effort to protect military service members from combat noise.

Shares of 3M shot up nearly 2.5% Tuesday morning to just over $106, a nearly one-month high, though its stock has plummeted since the start of the year, falling more than 13% since January 1.

For years members of the U.S. military used 3M’s earplugs to reduce noise while serving. But with time, it became clear the earplugs had serious side effects. The lawsuits surrounding the earplugs began in 2016, when Moldex-Metric, an industrial supply company, filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming 3M knew the earplugs it sold to the U.S. military were defective. Two years later, 3M settled those claims and agreed to pay the Justice Department $9.1 million. In Florida alone, more than 300,000 individuals have filed suit against 3M, and in 2019 those suits were consolidated into a multi-district litigation case that was among the cases resolved with Tuesday’s settlement. It wasn’t just individual testimony on the earplugs, a study published in 2019 backed up service members' concerns about the earplugs finding that tinnitus rates increased significantly among active duty service members from 2001 to 2015.

$77.5 million. That’s how much a jury in Pensacola, Florida, said 3M had to pay to Army veteran James Beal last year, after he suffered hearing loss and tinnitus as a result of using the earplugs.

Earlier this summer, 3M agreed to pay $10.3 billion over claims that “forever chemicals,” also known as PFAS or per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in its manufacturing have contaminated water systems. The money will be put towards helping water suppliers in the U.S. detect PFAS in their water supplies. PFAS are used in products with waterproof and non-stick properties but are also known to cause serious health issues including cancer, decreased fertility and developmental defects for those who ingest them. 3M said last year it would stop producing PFAS by the end of 2025.

3M Reaches $10.3 Billion Deal With Public Water Suppliers Over 'Forever Chemicals' (Forbes)

3M May Settle Lawsuits Over Defective Military Earplugs For Over $5.5 Billion, Report Says (Forbes)