Federal appeals court judges on Tuesday appeared skeptical of 3M’s bid to use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary Aearo Technologies to shield itself from nearly 260,000 lawsuits over allegedly defective military-issue earplugs. Paul Clement, a lawyer for Aearo, urged a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to reverse a…

A jury in Pensacola, Florida federal court on Friday ordered 3M Co to pay $77.5 million to a U.S. Army veteran who said he suffered hearing damage as a result of using the company’s military-issue earplugs. The verdict for veteran James Beal is the largest yet for an individual in a sprawling litigation over the…

A federal jury on Friday awarded $22.5 million to a U.S. Army veteran who alleged that combat earplugs sold by 3M Co. caused him to suffer hearing loss and tinnitus, the biggest verdict yet in massive litigation over the product. Jurors in Pensacola, Florida, sided with former U.S. Army soldier Theodore Finley in the latest…