{"id":3082,"date":"2023-09-05T06:50:43","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T11:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2023-09-05T06:49:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T11:49:48","slug":"3m-will-pay-6-billion-in-a-settlement-of-the-us-military-earplug-lawsuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/3m-will-pay-6-billion-in-a-settlement-of-the-us-military-earplug-lawsuits\/","title":{"rendered":"3M Will Pay $6 Billion in a Settlement of the US Military Earplug Lawsuits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3083\" src=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/war-1447021_640.jpg\" alt=\"war-1447021_640\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/war-1447021_640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/war-1447021_640-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/war-1447021_640-180x120.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Recently, 3M\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/3m-co-agrees-pay-6-billion-earplug-lawsuit-settlement-2023-08-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/3m-co-agrees-pay-6-billion-earplug-lawsuit-settlement-2023-08-29\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1693680938404000&amp;usg=AOvVaw04oUl0xXe41r0I5N2zLgYs\">agreed to pay<\/a>\u00a0$6.01 billion to settle lawsuits\u00a0that cover about 240,000\u00a0military veterans and service members who sued due to hearing loss they alleged was the result of the manufacturers\u2019 Combat Arms\u00a0earplugs. Earlier this year, 3M tried to move the lawsuits into bankruptcy court to avoid being held liable for the full scope of damages; the deal failed.<\/p>\n<p>Aearo Technologies made the\u00a0Combat Arms earplugs, which the military used to train service members, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, from 2003-2015. 3M bought Aearo. When they sued, the plaintiffs alleged that the manufacturer had concealed design flaws, altered test results, and failed to provide proper instructions for the earplugs, and that, as a result they suffered hearing loss, tinnitus and other hearing damage.\u00a0Plaintiffs\u00a0claimed\u00a0<wbr \/>that the defendants had used their own lab to test the earplugs and used improper testing procedures that skewed the results of a mandatory test, in order to get a different Noise Reduction Rating label than it should have gotten.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the 3M lawsuits were consolidated before a federal judge in Florida. Aearo filed for bankruptcy in 2022, but the bankruptcy judge dismissed it on the grounds that Aearo was\u00a0financially healthy and therefore shouldn\u2019t pursue bankruptcy.\u00a0In the course of the\u00a03M\u00a0litigation, 16 earplug cases went to trial. The manufacturer lost 10 cases, and around $265 million was awarded to the plaintiffs. The verdicts are included as part of the $6.01 billion settlement.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/3m-will-pay-6-billion-in-a-settlement-of-the-us-military-earplug-lawsuits\/#more-3082\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, 3M\u00a0agreed to pay\u00a0$6.01 billion to settle lawsuits\u00a0that cover about 240,000\u00a0military veterans and service members who sued due to hearing loss they alleged was the result of the manufacturers\u2019 Combat Arms\u00a0earplugs. Earlier this year, 3M tried to move the lawsuits into bankruptcy court to avoid being held liable for the full scope of damages; the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-liability"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>3M Will Pay $6 Billion in a Settlement of the US Military Earplug Lawsuits &#8212; Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 5, 2023<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recently, 3M\u00a0agreed to pay\u00a0$6.01 billion to settle lawsuits\u00a0that cover about 240,000\u00a0military veterans and service members who sued due to hearing loss &#8212; September 5, 2023\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/3m-will-pay-6-billion-in-a-settlement-of-the-us-military-earplug-lawsuits\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"3M Will Pay $6 Billion in a Settlement of the US Military Earplug Lawsuits &#8212; Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 5, 2023\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Recently, 3M\u00a0agreed to pay\u00a0$6.01 billion to settle lawsuits\u00a0that cover about 240,000\u00a0military veterans and service members who sued due to hearing loss &#8212; September 5, 2023\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/war-1447021_640.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Moll Law Group\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3M Will Pay $6 Billion in a Settlement of the US Military Earplug Lawsuits &#8212; 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