Nearly all claimants registered for earplug settlement, 3M says
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nearly all of the claimants who sued St. Paul-based 3M over alleged faulty combat earplugs will participate in a multibillion dollar settlement, the company said.
In a news release Wednesday, 3M said 249,000 claimants have registered for the settlement. There were 293,000 total claims before the settlement, and courts dismissed 41,000 of them, 3M said.
Last year, 3M agreed to pay $6 billion to resolve the lawsuits, which alleged the company manufactured and sold defective earplugs to the U.S. military that caused hearing loss and other injuries. In announcing the settlement, 3M continued to deny liability.
Some payments were already issued earlier this year. The rest will occur over the next several years, 3M said.
In 2022, WCCO spoke with David David, one of the veterans who sued 3M. David wore the earplugs during his tours of Iraq in the late 2010s and now lives with hearing loss.
"I have intermittent ringing," David said. "It's kind of like a whistling. I tend to read lips, per se. It causes more anxiety. I don't often go in public quite as often as I used to."
The earplug payments were one of two significant settlements for 3M in 2023. The company agreed to pay $10.3 billion over 13 years to fund public water suppliers in the United States that have detected its toxic "forever chemicals" in their water supplies.
Earlier this month, 3M named William Brown, an executive with a background in aerospace and defense, as their next CEO. He'll begin May 1.
Note: The video above originally aired Aug. 29, 2023.