The 3M earplug lawsuit settlement is a $6 billion agreement announced in August 2023 to resolve roughly 260,000 product-liability claims brought by U.S. service members and veterans who alleged that 3M’s Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2 caused hearing loss and tinnitus. Payments began in 2023 and continue in annual installments through 2029. As of early 2026, more than $3.1 billion has been distributed, participation exceeded 99% of eligible claimants, and 3M made no admission of liability.13M Newsroom. 3M Announces Combat Arms Settlement
Who the Settlement Covers
The settlement covers U.S. military service members, veterans, and commercial users who were issued or used the dual-ended Combat Arms Earplug Version 2 (CAEv2), the yellow-and-olive triple-flanged earplug that was standard issue for most deploying troops from 2006 through 2015.2The American Prospect. Monopoly, Misrepresentation, and Malpractice: 3M Earplugs The compensable injuries are hearing loss and tinnitus tied to use of the product.
Eligibility and payout amounts depend on documentation, including military service records (DD214 forms), medical records, audiometric test results, and causation affidavits.3Tavrn. 3M Earplug Lawsuit Update The registration window has closed. By the final registration deadline of March 25, 2024, more than 249,000 claimants out of over 293,000 total claims had enrolled, and 3M projected the final participation rate would exceed 99.9%. More than 41,000 additional claims were dismissed by the courts administering the agreements.43M Investor Relations. Combat Arms Earplugs Settlement Moves to Final Resolution
How Individual Payouts Are Calculated
The settlement uses a seven-tier injury scale that sorts claimants by the severity of their hearing loss and tinnitus. Individual awards range from roughly $7,000 for minor hearing loss to as much as $750,000 for severe or permanent impairment.3Tavrn. 3M Earplug Lawsuit Update
There are two main payment tracks. The Early Payment Program (EPP) used a first-in, first-out approach to pay claimants with complete documentation first. The Deferred Payment Program (DPP) uses a point system that weighs several factors:
- Severity of hearing loss
- Whether the loss is unilateral or bilateral
- Documented tinnitus
- The claimant’s age
- Strength of the causation evidence
DPP awards are recalculated each year. The Settlement Administrator divides the funds available for the year by the total points assigned to eligible claimants, producing a Point Dollar Value, and then multiplies that value by each claimant’s points. The first Point Dollar Value calculation, on October 1, 2025, came in at $933.50 per point. If 3M makes all scheduled deposits on time, the cumulative per-point value is projected to reach between $9,500 and $10,100 by the final calculation.5Junell Law. DPP Point Dollar Value Alert
Payment Timeline and Current Status
3M originally had the option to pay $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in company stock, but in January 2024 the company made an irrevocable election to pay the full amount in cash. The stock-to-cash conversion was structured in tranches, with the largest single payment of $375 million due in January 2025 and final installments running through April 2026.63M Investor Relations. 3M SEC Filing – Amendment to Settlement Agreement
As of early 2026, more than $3.1 billion of the $6 billion fund has been distributed. All participants in the Early Payment Program and the Wave Cases have been paid in full. Extraordinary Injury Fund awards are nearly all paid. Registration payments for the DPP are essentially complete, and point-based DPP awards are now flowing in annual installments.7Miller & Zois. 3M Combat Arms Earplug Lawsuit Remaining disbursements will continue through 2029 as 3M makes scheduled deposits and annual point-value calculations set each year’s payout amounts.
The federal multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2885 in the Northern District of Florida) has been fully wound down, with all cases dismissed following settlement or proper notice. Only a small number of coordinated cases remain open in Minnesota state court.8Lawsuit Information Center. 3M Earplug Verdict and Settlement Update
How to Track a Claim
BrownGreer PLC is the Settlement Administrator and handles claim processing, payments, and court reporting.9BrownGreer. Combat Arms Earplugs Claimants and their attorneys exchange documents and check status through a secure online portal at combatarmssettlement.com.10Combat Arms Settlement. Combat Arms Settlement Portal
The court has warned claimants that a company called ARCHER Systems, LLC is not the Settlement Administrator. Any requests from that entity for Social Security numbers or dates of birth should be treated as fraudulent.11U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida. 3M Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2885
TRICARE Deduction From Awards
If you used TRICARE benefits related to your hearing injury, expect a small flat deduction. In October 2024, the settlement program reached a global agreement with the Department of Justice and the Defense Health Agency covering 110,149 claimants. The deal replaced a slower case-by-case reimbursement review with a flat $54 deduction from each participating TRICARE beneficiary’s award: $49 to satisfy TRICARE’s reimbursement claim and $5 for administrative costs.8Lawsuit Information Center. 3M Earplug Verdict and Settlement Update
Attorney Fee Holdback
A common-benefit fee holdback comes out of the gross settlement recovery before individual claimants receive their net awards. Attorneys who signed a Participation Agreement within the court’s time frame face a 9% holdback; non-participating counsel face 15%.12U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida. Common Benefit Order No. 3 and Exhibit A In November 2024, U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers approved the 9% holdback as fair, producing a common-benefit fee fund of up to $540 million to compensate work performed by 68 plaintiffs’ firms.13Law360. 3M Earplug Attys Near OK of Up to $540M MDL Payout That holdback is separate from any individual contingency fee a claimant owes their own attorney.
Fraud Findings and Removed Claims
The settlement’s integrity has been tested. In late 2025, Special Master David Herndon found that Birmingham, Alabama firm Heninger Garrison Davis had signed up nearly 1,000 Ugandan citizens as claimants without adequate vetting. All but four of the claims were determined to be fraudulent. Audiograms were largely forged, one Ugandan clinic’s medical license was faked, and there was no evidence the claimants had ever used 3M earplugs. The Special Master recommended that the firm return approximately $804,000 in settlement funds already paid out on the fraudulent claims and pay $50,000 in sanctions, with additional individual penalties of $10,000 to $20,000 for the attorneys involved.14Florida Justice. Law Firm Faces Sanctions for Failing to Vet Ugandan Claims in $6B 3M Case Judge Rodgers adopted the Special Master’s findings, and the fraudulent claims were removed from the program.15Law.com. Heninger Garrison Davis Faces Sanctions for Filing Nearly 1K Fraudulent 3M Earplug Claims
Why 3M Settled
Two things pushed 3M to the settlement table. The first was the bellwether trial record. Between April 2021 and May 2022, sixteen test cases went to juries in the MDL. Plaintiffs won ten, and 3M won six. Verdicts against 3M included a $110 million award for two plaintiffs in January 2022 and a $77.5 million verdict in May 2022 that included $72.5 million in punitive damages. Judge Rodgers, in an October 2022 order, defended the bellwether process as “beyond legitimate reproach.”16American Bankruptcy Institute. Bellwether Trials in 3M Combat Arms Earplug Litigation
The second was a failed bankruptcy maneuver. On July 26, 2022, 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Indiana, with 3M committing $1 billion to fund a claims trust and $240 million for legal expenses.173M Newsroom. 3M Subsidiary Aearo Technologies Takes Action to Efficiently and Equitably Resolve Litigation Related to Combat Arms Earplugs On June 9, 2023, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham dismissed the filing, ruling that Aearo’s case lacked a “valid reorganization purpose” because the subsidiary was not in financial distress. Judge Graham called the filing “fatally premature” and said an otherwise healthy company backed by a “Fortune 500 multinational conglomerate” did not belong in bankruptcy court.18Bailey Glasser. Court Dismisses Aearo Technologies Bankruptcy Weeks later, 3M announced the $6 billion deal.
What the Claims Alleged About the Product
The CAEv2 was a dual-ended, triple-flanged earplug designed by Aearo Technologies in the late 1990s and sold to the military from 1999 to 2015. 3M acquired Aearo in 2008 for $1.2 billion.2The American Prospect. Monopoly, Misrepresentation, and Malpractice: 3M Earplugs After Army researchers noted in April 1999 that the earplug was too long to fit under a Kevlar helmet chinstrap, Aearo shortened the design by about a quarter of an inch.19University of Miami Law Review. You Protect Us, We Protect You: An Overview of the Defective Military Earplug Litigation Plaintiffs alleged the shortened stem made the plugs too short to seat securely in many ear canals and that the outward-facing flanges could loosen the plug without the wearer noticing.20Keller Postman. 3M Combat Arms Earplugs Litigation
Central to the litigation was a July 10, 2000, internal document known as the “Flange Report,” authored by Aearo employees Ronald Kieper and Dr. Elliott Berger. It documented that the redesigned earplugs were too short for proper insertion in people with medium or large ear canals and that acceptable lab results were obtained only by folding back the opposing flanges before insertion.21Drugwatch. 3M Combat Arms Earplugs The report was not shared with the Army and only surfaced in 2014, during discovery in an unrelated patent case brought by competitor Moldex-Metric, Inc.22GovInfo. In Re 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 3:19-md-02885 3M discontinued the product in 2015.