3M Agrees to Pay More Than $5.5 Billion Over Combat Earplugs
- Tentative pact would end years of litigation over product
- Deal would resolve liability 3M tried to curb with bankruptcy
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3M Co. has tentatively agreed to pay more than $5.5 billion to resolve over 300,000 lawsuits claiming it sold the US military defective combat earplugs, people familiar with the deal said.
The settlement would avert a potentially much larger liability that 3M sought to curb through a controversial bankruptcy case that ultimately collapsed. The sum is about half the roughly $10 billion some financial analysts predicted 3M could end up paying over allegations that the earplugs didn’t adequately protect the hearing of service members.