3M Earplug Settlement and Burn Pit Claims for Veterans: 2026 Status and PACT Act Benefits

3M Combat Arms earplugs

Service members said the dual-ended Combat Arms earplugs, originally made by Aearo Technologies and later by 3M after it bought Aearo, were too short to seal properly in many ear canals. The plugs could loosen without the wearer noticing, letting harmful noise through and causing hearing loss and tinnitus. According to the lawsuits, Aearo knew about the fit problem during testing and did not tell the military.

The issue first surfaced in a whistleblower case. In July 2018, 3M paid $9.1 million to resolve federal False Claims Act allegations that it sold defective earplugs to the military, without admitting wrongdoing. That case was brought by a competitor, Moldex-Metric. See our whistleblower and qui tam page for how those cases work.

Burn pits

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the military and contractors burned trash, including plastics, batteries, tires, and medical waste, in open-air pits. Veterans have linked the smoke to respiratory diseases and cancers. More than 60 lawsuits against contractor KBR and its former parent Halliburton, covering more than 800 veterans, were consolidated as In re KBR Burn Pit Litigation in Maryland.

The earplug MDL

The federal cases were consolidated in 2019 as In re: 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2885, before Judge M. Casey Rodgers in the Northern District of Florida. More than 390,000 cases were filed in it. 3M lost 10 of 16 bellwether trials and tried to move the cases into bankruptcy through Aearo, which a bankruptcy judge dismissed in June 2023.

On August 29, 2023, 3M agreed to pay $6.0 billion. 3M announced on January 29, 2024 that participation was on track to exceed the 98% threshold, and later reported more than 99%. As of September 2026, Drugwatch reports no pending earplug cases in MDL 2885, and the settlement program has reported more than $3 billion paid.

The burn pit lawsuits

The Fourth Circuit held that KBR's waste decisions were effectively military decisions, making the cases a political question for Congress and the military rather than the courts. On January 14, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the veterans' appeal, ending the KBR burn pit litigation. Congress then passed the PACT Act in 2022.

Earplug settlement

The settlement covered service members who used the Combat Arms earplugs, generally between 2003 and 2015, and who filed or registered claims by the program deadlines in 2023 and early 2024. The final registration date was March 25, 2024. If you registered, your payments come through the settlement program and your law firm. If you never registered, most firms are no longer taking new earplug cases.

Burn pit exposure under the PACT Act

The VA presumes toxic exposure if you served:

• On or after August 2, 1990 in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, or the United Arab Emirates, or the airspace above them.
• On or after September 11, 2001 in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, or Yemen, or the airspace above them.

If you also have a presumptive condition, you do not have to prove your service caused it. The presumptive cancers include brain cancer, glioblastoma, gastrointestinal cancer of any type, head and neck cancers, kidney cancer, lymphoma of any type, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, reproductive cancers, and respiratory cancers. The presumptive illnesses include asthma diagnosed after service, chronic bronchitis, COPD, chronic rhinitis, chronic sinusitis, constrictive bronchiolitis, emphysema, granulomatous disease, interstitial lung disease, pleuritis, pulmonary fibrosis, and sarcoidosis.

Veterans who did not serve in those places, or whose condition is not on the list, can still file, but must show the service connection with medical evidence.

Earplug payments

The $6.0 billion is paid over time. 3M's schedule runs from 2023 to 2029, with about $1.4 billion expected in 2024 and larger amounts in later years. The settlement had several tracks: an expedited payment of a fixed amount for claimants who chose it, and a points-based deferred payment program where the amount depends on documented hearing loss and tinnitus severity. As of July 2024, the program reported $819.7 million paid to 47,923 claimants, and more than $3 billion had been paid by September 2026. Before the settlement, bellwether juries awarded amounts such as $7.1 million to three veterans in April 2021 and $8.2 million to one veteran in October 2021, but those verdicts were far above what most settlement claimants receive.

A personal injury settlement generally does not reduce VA disability compensation, because VA pays by disability rating rather than income. Ask the VA or an accredited representative if you receive need-based benefits such as a VA pension.

PACT Act benefits

PACT Act claims pay monthly VA disability compensation based on your rating, plus VA health care. The PACT Act also requires VA to offer a toxic exposure screening to every veteran enrolled in VA health care. There is no lump-sum payout from a burn pit lawsuit, since those cases were dismissed.

• Product liability: the earplug cases claimed a design defect and failure to warn. Because the plugs were sold to the government, 3M argued it should be shielded as a government contractor, but juries still ruled for plaintiffs in 10 of the 16 bellwether trials.
• False Claims Act: lets a whistleblower sue on the government's behalf for fraud against it; the 2018 3M case was brought this way.
• Political question doctrine: courts will not second-guess core military decisions, which is why the KBR burn pit cases failed.
• The Feres doctrine: service members generally cannot sue the federal government for injuries incident to service, so VA benefits are the main remedy for burn pit illness.
• PACT Act: the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our PACT Act, signed August 10, 2022, which added more than 20 presumptive conditions.

The earplug registration deadlines passed in 2024, and settlement claimants now face program deadlines for documents and elections set by the administrator. Answer every request from your law firm or the program promptly, since missing one can delay or reduce your payments.

For VA claims, there is no deadline to file a PACT Act claim, but the special window to backdate benefits to August 10, 2022 closed in August 2023. For claims filed now, the effective date is usually when VA receives the claim. Submitting an intent to file (VA Form 21-0966) can hold your effective date while you gather evidence, as long as you file the full claim within one year.

Veterans previously denied for a burn pit condition that is now presumptive can file a supplemental claim for a new decision.

With the earplug settlement

• Lost contact: claimants who moved or changed phone numbers can miss document requests. Keep your address current with your law firm.
• Medical records gaps: points in the deferred program depend on audiograms and records. Ask your firm whether any records are missing.
• Liens and taxes: ask whether any health insurer or government program has a lien, and whether you will get a tax form. Compensation for physical injury is often not taxable, but get advice for your situation.
• Scams: no one can add you to the settlement now for a fee, and the program will not ask you to pay to release your money.

With PACT Act claims

• Old denials: many veterans were denied for burn pit conditions before 2022. A condition that is now presumptive can be refiled as a supplemental claim, without proving the exposure caused it.
• Missing deployment proof: if your records do not show the country where you served, gather orders, evaluations, awards, or buddy statements.
• Survivors: surviving spouses and dependents of veterans who died from a presumptive condition may be eligible for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.
• Paid claim help: accredited attorneys and agents generally cannot charge for help with an initial VA claim, only after a decision.

If a VA decision seems wrong, you can ask for a higher-level review, file a supplemental claim with new evidence, or appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals.

1. Earplug claimants: confirm your status with your law firm or the settlement program, keep your address current, and ask how your points were calculated.
2. Burn pit exposure: request your toxic exposure screening at VA, get your diagnoses documented, and file an intent to file right away.
3. Use free help: VA-accredited veterans service organizations help file claims at no cost. Be wary of anyone charging to file an initial VA claim.
4. Keep records: DD-214, deployment orders, medical records, and every VA letter.

Veterans exposed to firefighting foam or contaminated water on bases may have separate claims; see AFFF firefighting foam lawsuits and PFAS water contamination. For how settlement payments are taxed, see do you pay taxes on settlements, and for how these grouped cases work, what an MDL is. If you have a toxic exposure or injury claim outside the VA system, a free case review takes about two minutes.