Judge Stops 3M Effort to Use Bankruptcy to Fix Earplug Lawsuits

A federal judge threw out the bankruptcy case for 3M Co.’s Aearo Technologiesunit, effectively ending the company’s effort to use Chapter 11 to resolve 230,000 lawsuits alleging it was liable for faulty earplugs it made.

US Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham sided with a committee representing current and former soldiers suing the company for hearing damage that they claim was caused by faulty earplugs.

Aearo Technologies filed bankruptcy last year, but failed to convince Graham to halt the lawsuits against 3M. Critics have attacked the use of bankruptcy by profitable companies like 3M and health care giant Johnson & ...