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Manufacturing giant 3M will pay $6 billion to settle hundreds of thousands of lawsuits brought by veterans who said the earplugs the company made failed to protect them from hearing loss while on duty, according to a company release.
The payout will solve one of the largest mass crimes in US history. The plaintiffs said the earplugs made by the company were defective and caused hearing loss or tinnitus, a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears.
“This historic agreement represents a tremendous victory for the thousands of men and women who have bravely served our country and returned home with life-changing hearing impairments,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys said in a joint statement.
According to its announcement on Tuesday, the company came to the agreement without admitting liability. The company said its earbuds “are safe and effective when used as directed” and that it was prepared to continue defending itself through litigation “if certain terms of the settlement agreement are not met.”
The case stems from a whistleblower lawsuit filed on behalf of the US government in 2016, which claimed the manufacturer knew its earbuds, called CAEv2, weren’t as safe to work as it claims. The US military bought the earbuds from 2003 to 2015, and in 2008 3M acquired the company that made the earbuds.
Last year, the acquired company Aearo filed for bankruptcy as an independent company and assumed liability for claims. However, according to media reports, a judge has dismissed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The case solves another legal problem for 3M, a sprawling corporation that makes hundreds of products across dozens of industries. Its coatings and sealants are present in numerous industrial supply chains, while its medical and orthodontic divisions make devices such as stethoscopes and preformed crowns that dentists use in root canals. His N95 and KN95 masks became ubiquitous during the coronavirus pandemic.
In June, 3M agreed to pay $10.4 billion over 13 years to fund public water utilities that discovered perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFAS, dubbed eternal chemicals because they not be degraded in the environment. Thousands of plaintiffs alleged that chemicals in the company’s consumer products could cause cancer, decreased fertility, birth defects and other health problems. The company has assumed no liability in this settlement.
3M shares rose 5.2 percent on Monday after news of a possible settlement surfaced in the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News. According to the Journal, some analysts had expected the lawsuit to cost the company between $10 billion and $15 billion.
The settlement is to be paid out over a period of six years starting in 2023. It includes $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in stock.