3M Earplugs Lawsuit: The $6 Billion Veterans Settlement

What the Litigation Alleged

Hundreds of thousands of US service members alleged that 3M’s dual-ended Combat Arms earplugs — standard issue for years in Iraq and Afghanistan — were defectively designed and could loosen imperceptibly, letting damaging noise through and causing hearing loss and tinnitus. It became one of the largest mass torts in US history, with more than 250,000 claims.

The core allegation was a design and warning defect: that the product did not reliably seal and that the risk was not adequately disclosed.

The $6 Billion Settlement

In 2023, 3M agreed to pay $6 billion to resolve the litigation — $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in company stock — with payments scheduled between 2023 and 2029. By 2026 roughly half of the fund had been paid out, with early-payment and wave participants receiving distributions. A settlement of this kind resolves the claims without an admission of liability.

Because it is a global resolution of existing claims rather than an open class with a claims window, participation was tied to being part of the coordinated litigation.

What Veterans Should Know

The settlement covers the claims that were part of the litigation; it is administered through that framework rather than a public sign-up site. Veterans with questions about payment status should work through the settlement’s official administration and their counsel, not a third-party lead page.