3M's Earplug Lawsuit Saga: Judge Says 'No Easy Out' Despite Subsidiary Bankruptcy

3M tried to hit the reset button through its subsidiary Aearo Technologies' bankruptcy filing—a classic legal move to pause lawsuits. But a U.S. judge just rejected that strategy, letting 230,000+ earplug cases proceed. The ruling hit hard: MMM stock dropped 9.5% on Aug 26.

Here's the tea: Veterans claim 3M's combat earplugs caused hearing damage. 3M argues the earplugs actually protected soldiers while letting them hear on the battlefield. The numbers tell a different story though—3M has already lost 10 out of 16 trials with roughly $300 million paid to plaintiffs.

Judge Jeffrey J. Graham basically said the sheer size of the lawsuit pile isn't enough to block the cases, even with bankruptcy rules in play. 3M's response? They're setting aside $1 billion to compensate veterans and planning an appeal.

The takeaway: Sometimes bankruptcy doesn't buy you the breathing room you hoped for. 3M and Aearo are far from done fighting.