More than 30,000 service members and military veterans have agreed to 3Ms settlement over allegedly faulty earplugs, prompting 3M to issue $253 million in payments.

3M in recent past made $250 million in first payments to more than 30,000 claimants end of December. The milestone is important due to unanimous level of acceptance is needed fro the 276,000 claimants in order of the $6 billion settlement declared previous summer to be valid.

The payments will be made by the end of the month to thousand plaintiffs who were ready to go to trial as the settlement was drafted and have now agreed to participate in the settlement and release their claims.

The Maplewood based company declared the settlement in August after 5 years of litigation battle into one of the mega mass torts in United States of America history.

More than 25000 active service members and veteran blamed hearing damage on Combat Arms earplugs made by 3M subsidiary Aero Technologies and sold to the military from 1999 to 2015. 3M which acquired Aero in 2008 earplugs were safe when use properly.

Federal Judge signed off on 3M’s plan to issue one billion dollar in stock to assist pay for the settlement. Payments will be made in phases through 2029.

3M expresses the settlement has received strong and widespread help from claimants and the broader military community. The company can walk away from the settlement payment if the 98% participation threshold is not met through 3M is not required to do so.

The class action deal with public water system is worth up to $12.5 billion.That settlement also requires a percentage of claimants to participate that threshold is not public. According to court filings, 170 valid opt outs were received out of over 1400 potential class members.

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