Maplewood-based 3M has agreed to pay over $5 billion to settle a lawsuit over defective combat earplugs sold to the U.S. Military. This is half of what financial analysts estimate 3M will pay if the lawsuits go to trial.
3M agreed to a settlement of $5 billion that will be paid over the supplied defective earplugs (Source: Forbes)
Defective Combat Earplugs Costs $9.5 Billion Liabilities
The complaints claimed the earplugs were substandard for over a decade. Over 900,000 tinnitus claims were submitted to the VA in 2012, and experts say they’re rising every year. “Sounds like 3M negotiated a pretty good deal for itself, given this litigation has been weighing on them for the better part of a decade,” Bloomberg quoted University of Richmond product liability law professor Carl Tobias.
A 3M spokeswoman stated the business doesn’t discuss rumors. Barclays analysts assessed the company’s liabilities at $8 billion. Bloomberg Intelligence estimated $9.5 billion. Federal court documents show that hundreds of thousands of lawsuits have been combined in multi-district litigation before a Florida federal judge for pretrial information exchanges and test trials. Current and former service personnel allege in the complaints that 3M knew its defective combat earplugs were too short to work and failed to alert the US government or users or modify the equipment.
The settlement requires 3M to pay out the money over five years, said the people, who sought anonymity because they weren’t allowed to discuss the arrangement. They claimed that 3M’s board must approve the acquisition. 3M slashed 1,100 Maplewood headquarters jobs in May. The pact would terminate a long list of litigation for the Minnesota corporation, which faces hundreds of PFAS “forever chemicals” claims that may cost several times more than the earplug deal. 3M has lost 10 of 16 early earplug trials, with over $250 million awarded to over a dozen service members.
READ ALSO: Millions Of Retirees Will Get Social Security Direct Payments Worth $4,555 In 19 Days
