Did 3M sell military earplugs?

3M Co. ( NYSE: MMM) tentatively agreed to a more than $5.5 billion in a settlement to resolve over 300,000 lawsuits claiming the company sold the US military defective combat earplugs.

Will 3M earplugs go bankrupt?

Facing thousands of lawsuits from U.S. service members who said 3M earplugs failed to protect their hearing, the manufacturing giant announced it is committing $1 billion to a trust to resolve the suits — and that Aearo Technologies, the 3M unit that made the plugs, is filing for voluntary bankruptcy as part of the plan.

Did 3M earplugs cause tinnitus?

In 2018, 3M agreed to pay $9.1 million to the Department of Justice to resolve the allegations without admitting liability. After the settlement with the federal government, individual service members began filing lawsuits against 3M alleging they wore the defective earplugs that caused them to develop hearing loss and/or tinnitus.

Could a military earplug lawsuit be settled with a $5.5 billion payout?

The claims of hundreds of thousands of military service members who said they developed hearing loss or tinnitus by using defective earplugs knowingly sold to the U.S. military by 3M could be settled with a $5.5 billion payout, Bloomberg reported Sunday, ending a years-long legal dispute that led to a 3M subsidiary filing for bankruptcy protection.