With approval from the overwhelming majority of claimants, 3M’s massive earplug settlement is set to go forward.

On Tuesday, the Maplewood-based manufacturer announced that more than 99% of claimants have formally agreed to the settlement. The company said there were more than 293,000 claims in total, and more than 249,000 claimants have registered to participate in the settlement. Another 41,000 have also been dismissed by the courts administering the agreements, 3M said.

“Once all the settlement registrations that have been submitted by claimants have been processed and validated, 3M anticipates that the settlement will have achieved a more than 99.9% participation level,” the company said in a news release issued Tuesday.

The news is significant because if less than 98% of claimants chose not to participate, 3M could have walked away from the deal. In total, the company is expected to pay out about $6 billion in the settlement. 3M announced initial terms of the deal in August.

The settlement stems from military-grade earplugs manufactured by Aearo Technologies, a company that 3M acquired in 2008. The plugs were sold between 1999 and 2015. Over the years, military service members and veterans claimed that the earplugs led to hearing damage and tinnitus. In 2019, over 200,000 individual lawsuits were consolidated into one. It’s one of the largest mass torts in U.S. history.

3M will pay out the $6 billion through 2029, which means some claimants might not see compensation for months or years. The average payout is expected to be around $10,000 apiece, the Star Tribune reported, citing attorney Ron Miller.

The earplugs deal is one of two major lawsuits brought against 3M in recent years. In June, the company agreed to pay $12.5 billion to local governments for introducing PFAS – aka “forever chemicals” – into their water supplies.